Wednesday Opponent Overview: Jimtown

Last Season Review
Jimtown lost all 7 varsity players coming into the 2008 season, but replaced them with a JV team that had gone unbeaten during the 2007 season. Matt Candler moved from #1 singles JV to #1 singles varsity, and everyone else did the same. One player returned to the team, senior Jake Smith, who had played #1 singles early in 2007 before leaving the team. Any way you look at it, the Jimmies were inexperienced. But they were able to succeed. The team finished with both a winning record and a double conference championship, one regular season crown and another in the conference tournament. They then won their first round Sectional match, a 3-2 victory over Goshen. They fell to NorthWood in the semi-final round, also by a score of 3-2. It was still an impressive season, a great rebounding job after losing so many players to graduation. We obviously hope to rebound in a similar fashion this upcoming season.

Returning Varsity Players
Matt Candler - A lefty, Candler had two tight contests with Ben Mast in 2007 and then a not so close match with Luke Hostetter in 2008 ( 1-6, 1-6). Candler is not over powering, and in the match against Luke, he was not consistent either. This match was at the end of a long, hot day however. He finished the season 15-7 and as runner-up in the Northern Lakes Conference #1 singles tournament to Triton senior Brandon Anthony.

Shane Cook - Cook is a similar tale to Candler, in that not one specific part of his game stood out above the rest. He lost quickly to Jared Schwartzentruber (1-6, 2-6) which makes that match even harder to remember. In the Northern Lakes, Cook finished third, behind Triton's Ben Montalbano and John Glenn's Trey Rhodes.

Bret Giddings - We had the pleasure of playing Giddings twice during the season, once at the Concord Invitational where Jonny Shenk took a grueling, sun battling match 6-4, 3-6, 10-5. Then in a less grueling atmosphere, Ben Mast defeated Giddings 6-3, 6-3 in the JV Invitational. Giddings is a consistent player with good groundstrokes, but struggled a bit when there was attacking pressure applied by Jonny or Ben. Plus, in the match at Concord we witnessed both he and Jonny cramping. Not good. Giddings won the #3 singles flight of the Northern Lakes Conference tourney.

Tyler Forgey - A member of the #2 doubles team, who fell 1-6, 2-6 to Daniel and Mikey. Usually a strength of the Jimmies, this doubles team seemed a bit down from past years, which was to be expected based on the effects of graduation. They were able to win the Northern Lakes tourney without too much trouble, and also provided one of the points in the first round Sectional victory as well as the second round near upset of NorthWood.

Other Possible Varsity Contributors
Josh Gray - lost 0-6, 0-6 to Matthew Amstutz
Lance Miller/Jake Hoffman - lost 5-7, 2-6 to Russell Klassen/Kyle Miller
Danny Eaton/Kameron Green - lost 0-6, 1-6 to Misha Rebec/Claude Stickler

Outlook
In returning three singles players, the Jimmies should have a solid base to build on. Candler will be a solid #1 and Giddings should be one of the better #3's in the area. I am not sure that this team will be overly intimidating, but they will be experienced. They certainly return the talent to make a run at the Sectional crown this coming season. With graduation losses to this year's favorites (us and NorthWood), I would see Jimtown as one of two favorites for next year's Sectional. Coach Steve Fledderman will certainly do his best to get them prepared, and I for one look forward to the challenge of this squad next year.

Blessing
We continue to pray that God will bless this team in many ways throughout this year.