Catching Up on Friday

Catching Up With...Senior Memories from Daniel Buschert
2007 Sectional Semi-Final against Goshen

My Junior year when we faced Goshen in the sectional, we had just beaten Fairfield in the incredible underdog comeback win and Mikey and I realized that we could beat opponents close to our talent level, and that we were needed for the team to win. However Fairfield we knew we could beat, because obvious poor play had thrown away that match, and we knew that we were better when we played aggressively. However we had not faced Goshen before, but we knew that their team on the whole was close to ours, and that the positions it would come down to were 1 singles and 1 & 2 doubles.

The Saturday morning started off cold, and Mikey and I began poorly. We didn't get pumped up, we lost a bunch of key points, some that we couldn't put away. One of the Goshen 2 doubles pair was very fast, running down a lot of our hard putaways, and both could lob well. We quickly were down 5-0 in the first set, and didn't have much confidence or energy, with the cold and the frustration of not having anything to yell about. So Matt called us over to the fence and instead of urging us to get together and get back in the set, he told us we should try our hardest to win the next game on our serve, so that they would serve the game after that, and if we lost, we would start off the second set serving. I remember thinking it would be unfortunate to win 2 and then lose the set, but focused to get the next game anyway, hoping to gain momentum. We got it, and then lost the next a went into the next set. I remember not feeling much pressure, because we were following Matt's plan, and knew we could pick it up. It was advice that was realistically achievable, and made perfect sense.

The other piece of advice he gave us was to get moving, run around the court after lobs, encourage each other. He was slightly blunt with us, telling us we looked asleep on the court, but this helped fire us up to change his perception. We started winning games, finding the energy and confidence we needed. We quickly got to a 5-1 lead, but tightened up as we had all year when we got a lead, and dropped two games. Around this point we also began to see the match unfold as it was expected to, with Jonny and Jared struggling, but the others close. We managed to take the 2nd set, and moved into the third with the same strategy, keeping the ball in but staying aggressive, and running down lobs. We found that we were better than our opponents, when we attacked the net and yelled and got into it. One doubles was the last other match on the court while we moved to a 5-1 lead, and we saw they were also winning.

Once again, we became tentative, and a couple shots just missed. I remember one shot Mikey hit at a match point, his signature overhead from the baseline, that just bounced wide. However, we finally closed off the match at 6-3, with lots of cheering from all the fans, but as we walked back around the fence to watch 1 doubles, there was a quiet, hushed atmosphere. Watching 1 doubles was very tough, but I was boosted by our first 3rd set win, that we could keep our heads and simply follow instructions. This match is one of the best examples of how Matt's advice from the fence can work perfectly. It was also important that we had managed to keep the team's postseason alive, and not falter under the pressure of needing to win.