Triton Match Report

Once again, we played a very good match against a fairly good team. I don't know how many times I'll say that this year, but this was a good ramp up for many of our players. Since the Concord tournament, our competition has been getting stronger and stronger and we have continued to get the same results. This time it was a 5-0 varsity win and a 6-0 JV win.

The standout match of the day was certainly Jared Schwartzentruber's win at number two singles. Jared matched up against junior Ben Montalbano, who he had defeated in a marathon 3-set match last year, having to save several match points in order to win. This year however, Jared came out strong and confident and took the first set 6-2. In the second set, Jared continued to play fairly consistently from the baseline, but Montalbano began to find his game. Montalbano played a smart mix of short, sliced balls, which are very hard to attack, and then hit low passing shots when Jared would come to the net. As Jared missed several volleys, he stayed off the net for awhile, allowing Montalbano some relief from the pressure he had been bringing. Jared then started to miss some groundstrokes, and felt the frustration beginning to creep in. Down 2-4 however, Jared restarted his net attacking. He never lost a point at net the rest of the match, and closed the set out with winning four straight games.

Luke Hostetter also had an interesting battle at number one singles. His opponent, Brandon Anthony, is a four-year varsity player, the last three at number one singles. So Anthony and Luke have played three straight years now. Luke won the first two, but Anthony came out swinging in this one and made it seem to be in doubt as to whether Luke would win his third straight. The first set was close, with Anthony controlling many of the points with big forehands and backhands. Leading 3-2, Luke was able to pull out some key points over the next two games to extend his lead to 5-2. But it was tight. Luke finished the set off. Suddenly, Anthony's game changed. He went from going for big shots to being, well, disinterested. In a quick second set, Luke won 6-0.

Jonny Shenk played another great match, for the most part controlling the pace of the points and hitting out some very good shots. In the second set, junior Kreig Vories tried to attack the net more often as Jonny had fallen into the habit of pushing the ball back. But Jonny soon had instructions to hit through the ball and stroke it back nice and deep. The set turned in Jonny's favor and he closed it out.

Our doubles again played well. There was nothing too specific to note, except that we have very good doubles teams. The Triton coach compared us very favorably to the doubles of the twentieth ranked team in the state, Plymouth, who Triton had played on Wednesday. It was good to hear this high praise, and hopefully our guys will continue to play at such a high level throughout the year. Like Jonny Shenk said during the offseason, we are only as good as how hard we work.

The JV match was not very close either. Ben Mast set the tone early in his match with a big ace, and never let up throughout sealing the 8-0 victory. Russell Klassen moved up a spot from his normal three singles spot, but still controlled his match to the tune of 8-0. Kyle Miller, Matthew Amstutz, Seth Krabill all kept undefeated seasons alive as well with well deserved and convincing victories. The JV's team record improved to 8-0 as they continue to prove the depth of our team, and show that the cupboard will not be left bare when this year's 8 seniors graduate.


Varsity: Two varsity moments, they go to number one and number two singles. Luke destroyed the mental game of his opponent, and he did it with what Jeremy Thomas calls a "cheap shot." The drop shot was working all day for Luke, and he pulled it out at mentally devastating times. The best was when he had just taken the first set and a frustrated Anthony had started by playing a good point and hitting the ball long. In the second point of the set, Luke ran down a great shot by Anthony and put a ball back deep to his backhand. As Anthony looked away, Luke sneaked up to the net and Anthony simply returned the ball to the middle of the court, where Luke was waiting to pounce. But instead of pounding it, Luke hit a dropper. Anthony just stood and shook his head. It was at that point that I could see Luke was going to win the second set.

Jared Schwartzentruber gets the award also for playing the most technically perfect point of the day. He boomed a serve in and got a weak return back from it. He took his forehand and whipped it into Montalbano's forehand corner. Montalbano sliced it back to the middle of the court and Jared hit an attacking backhand into Montalbano's backhand corner. At a sprint, Montalbano got to it but could only stretch and hit it to the center of the court. But Jared had followed his volley to the net, and hit a simple forehand volley back into Montalbano's forehand corner. He ran again, but the ball dropped for a second bounce just beyond his reach.

JV: Nick Rebec is the only player on our team with a legit one-hand backhand. It is erratic and I'm not entirely convinced that I always like it. But when it is played well, it is one of the most beautiful shots in tennis. Against Triton, Nick played doubles with brother Misha, and was returning serve. The serve came meekly into his backhand, and Nick decided to smack it. Down the line. It went right past the net man and perfectly into the corner. And it was hit hard as well. Our crowd erupted with cheers, it was one of those great moments where you know everything has come together. What a great day it was!

Scores

Varsity
Luke Hostetter - 6-2, 6-0 - Brandon Anthony (12)
Jared Schwartzentruber - 6-2, 6-4 - Ben Montalbano (11)
Jonny Shenk - 6-1, 6-2 - Kreig Vories (11)
Johnny Kauffman/Jeremy Thomas - 6-0, 6-1 - Bryant Davenport (11)/Darius Stevens (11)
Daniel Buschert/Mikey Kelly - 6-0, 6-1 - Austin Davis (10)/Jackson Everett (10)

JV
Ben Mast - 8-0 - Josh Shafer (9)
Russell Klassen - 8-0 - Austin Kanarr (9)
Kyle Miller - 6-0 - Jackson Downing (9)
Austin Loucks - 8-1 - Wil Rettinger (9)
Matthew Amstutz/Seth Krabill - 8-1 - Wil Rettinger (9)/Jackson Downing (9)
Misha Rebec/Nick Rebec - 6-4 - Josh Shafer (9)/Austin Kanarr (9)