Catching Up on Friday

Catching Up With...5 Questions for 2009 Freshman Ike Lehman

How many matches did you come to last year, who did you enjoy watching and why?

I came to one match during the season, the sectional championship, and the regional match. I enjoyed watching Luke Hostetter play because his matches were always much more fast pace then the other matches. I liked watching any doubles matches because of the attaching style of play the doubles had. I also liked watching the sophomores, freshmen, and juniors. I like to watch them because I will be playing with them next year.

What sticks out about the sectional and regional matches?

I remember going to watch the regional match and when we were up and looking like we were going to win, Ryan Minter and I ran around the nearby track. It was only the next day that I found out that we had lost. In the sectional, I thought it was a very exiting match because the game before was against Fairfield, my old school. The championship match was where I first realized that Luke grunts like Serena Williams when he hits the ball.

What attracted you to play tennis in high school?

When I was in fifth grade I had a choice to either go to the Bethany soccer camp or tennis camp, because i was not old enough to go to the baseball camp which was my first choice. I chose the tennis camp because I thought it would be a lot like baseball, you swing the racket and hit the ball, but I did not know all the different strokes were nothing like baseball. But I got hooked on it anyway with all the fun extra games we had at the camp.

What's your favorite tennis story Matt has told in class?

I would have to say the story about 2008 summer team camp when Blake would look for the hiders while he sung songs, and Russell hid in the dishwasher. I couldn't believe how funny Blake seemed in Mr. Miller's stories because Blake would have NEVER done that the week before in our baseball game together.

How do you expect the team to do next year, yourself included?

I think we will be strong next year with the JV going undefeated in 2008. We could be even stronger when next years juniors are seniors. I thought I would do okay my freshmen year as a JV player, and that assumption is based on how good I am compared to the rest of the class. But I recently went to an open gym with other high schooler players, Blake and Ben, and I looked pretty bad playing next to them. And some JV players will be as good Blake or even Ben, and I don't know how much I will improve through practices next year, so I really don't know how well I will do.