Prairie Heights Match Report

Chalk up another well-played, well-deserved victory for the Bruins. Both JV and varsity maintained their games in the 90+ heat to grab wins over the Panthers of Prairie Heights.

Prairie Heights entered this match with a winning record, although only at 2-1 they had won victories over Central Noble and Lakeland, while falling to Fairfield. The scores of their Fairfield match had been very close, and they were heavy on upperclassmen in their varsity ranks. Both Andrew and I figured that this match might be closer than people were expecting. The heat and the long drive made me wonder if we would come out flat and then panic ourselves into losing a couple more games than we should.

Well, we did come out sort of flat. Number one doubles lost the first two games, and Luke only led 3-2 in the early going, and other positions looked like they couldn't quite find energy. But we didn't panic. We loosened up and ended up playing very good matches throughout all positions on the evening.

Number one singles was an interesting match as Luke took the first 3 games, then lost 2 in a row, then won 9 straight to finish off the victory. It seemed like Luke couldn't quite get dialed in early, and was making more errors than is typical for his game. A steady stream of serves into the backhand of his senior opponent Phil Hubley obviously rattled the Panther number one. Luke played some very nice points in the middle of the match, and Hubley ended the match with error after frustrating error.

Number two singles Jared Schwartzentruber took a good opponent and beat him easily. It was a match that reminded me of Ben Mast's recent matches, where the points were long and Panther Brandon Hollifield had some really good low slices and strong forehands, but the whole time you were sure Jared was going to win every point. I continue to be impressed with the level of Jared's play this season, it looks to be honed very well, especially from the baseline. That was evident again in this match. Jared may be working his way to being one of the better number two players in the area.

Number three singles was an exciting match to watch because of the energy that Jonny Shenk brought to the match. Keeping his feet ready for serves, he stroked and groundstroked and forehanded and backhanded his opponent to death. It was reminiscent of the great Jonny Shenk matches of last year, which had been lacking at some points. My favorite points were when Panther junior Brandon Buechley tried to approach the net and Jonny rocked passing shots at or by him. It was a beautiful thing to watch...

Number one doubles recovered quickly from a slow start and attacked their way through the rest of the match, pulling out 11 straight games at one point. Johnny Kauffman's groundstrokes and passing shots were catching the eye here, as well as timely volleys by both players.

Number two doubles did one better, winning 12 games in a row with an impressive 6-0, 6-0 victory. I have to note the serves these guys were putting in, leaving little chance of Prairie Heights to return them, or setting each other up for putaways. Again, this is another position where we are playing really well.

JV was more of the same. Ben Mast dropped two early games but recovered nicely, especially in his second match of the day where he truly started to hit through the ball. There is temptation in the JV matches to simply dink the ball back over and let the other team make errors, I was glad to watch Ben play through that in his second match.

Seth attacked well, continuing to use his big forehand as a weapon. His opponent, Cory Owens, had a big first serve but only got it in once. It was funny to see Seth not even be ready for the first serve because it was always going out, then get ready for the point as Owens hit a second serve.

Matthew and Russell had the trouble of dinking and waiting at the beginning of their match. Andrew talked to them at the fence and they seemed to get more aggressive after that point. That was definitely good to see from them. The more we attack at the JV level, hit out and hit through our shots the better.

Couldn't see much of Austin and Claude's match as they were all the way opposite of my vantage point. Every time I looked down, Austin was serving and doing it well on one serve and way out on the next. Consistency is certainly an issue that we will continue to improve on in JV practice. However, when the ball did go in, the Panthers could not handle the spin and pace Austin and Claude brought. Thus, they won easily.


Varsity:
Jonny Shenk is a winner and Johnny Kauffman gets recognition. Loved the passing shots today, and Jonny Shenk ripped a number of them. My favorite was when he hit a laser right at his opponent, right at his stomach. Buechley could only get his racket in front of him and deflect the ball backwards, it was amazing and aggressive and I liked it!

JV:
Russell Klassen wins a moment of beauty for a shot that he hit out. I know, it's sort of unbelievable, but at 40-love in the last game of their set, Russell tried to end the match with an aggressive forehand up the line. I like this type of attacking in trying to finish out the match. Too many times when we get ahead we get tentative. This was the opposite.

Scores

Varsity
Luke Hostetter - 6-2, 6-0 - Phil Hubley (12)
Jared Schwartzentruber - 6-1, 6-1 - Brandon Hollifield (12)
Jonny Shenk - 6-1, 6-0 - Brandon Buechley (11)
Johnny Kauffman/Jeremy Thomas - 6-2, 6-1 - Andrew Svoboda (12)/Travis Northup (11)
Daniel Buschert/Mikey Kelly - 6-0, 6-0 - Trey Everidge (12)/Tim Morris (11)

JV
Ben Mast - 8-2 - James Burkhart (12)
Seth Krabill - 8-1 - Cory Owens (11)
Ben Mast - 6-0 - Torin Kellett (10)
Matthew Amstutz/Russell Klassen - 8-0 - Kye Recker (12)/Danny Hamm (10)
Austin Loucks/Claude Stickler - 8-1 - Brad Hughes (10)/Donald Cook (9)