Wednesday Opponent Overview: Triton

Last Season Review
Last season was a great upswing for the Triton tennis program. Their #1 singles player, Brandon Anthony, won the conference tournament and found himself on the All-District team at the end of the season. That's a great honor for any player to have. But the success didn't end with individuals, though #2 singles player Ben Montalbano won the conference as well. No, the team had a great season finishing 3rd in the conference and doing it with a large underclassmen group. For stretches of the season it looked as if they would challenge Jimtown for the conference title, but then just didn't play their best at the right times. As we played them last year, their coach was filled with a lot of optimism moving through last season and into next year. But last season was certainly an above average one for the Trojans.

Returning Varsity Players
Ben Montalbano - Montalbano has been one of the better #2 singles players in the area for awhile now. Last season, Jared beat him in two difficult sets by attacking the net and making Montalbano show that he could consistently pass Jared. This is the only way to beat him, because Montalbano will run down everything you hit from the baseline and hit it back. He has incredible drive and competitiveness and a point never ends with him. He used this drive to win the conference tournament at his position in the past year. He will continue to be a tough opponent this year as he moves to #1 singles.

Kreig Vories - Not Triton's strongest position last year, junior lefty Vories is a talented player who couldn't seem to win the big points against Jonny. He had a very similar style to Jonny actually, but would end up making a mistake in a crucial point and just being a bit too inconsistent against Jonny's attack. It seems to me that the match was a bit closer than the scoreline revealed, especially when Vories was able to attack short balls. In the NSC conference tournament Vories finished in 4th place, defeating Laville (6-0, 6-0) but then falling to Bremen's Briley Bollenbacher (3-6, 6-2, 6-2).

Bryant Davenport/Darius Stevens - Stevens and Davenport were beginning players when they began their first year with the Trojan tennis team. They have improved dramatically after 3 varsity seasons. Last year, they won they matches they should have but had difficulty stepping it up and playing close matches against high level teams. They finished 3rd at the NSC tournament, falling behind Jimtown and John Glenn. Against Jeremy and Johnny, they seemed a bit overmatched as we played one of our better matches. They definitely had trouble holding the net against our seniors relentless attacking.

Austin Davis/Jackson Everett - Similar story here as with #1 doubles. This will be a good doubles team as they continue to develop consistency, experience, power, and aggression. This year they couldn't hold up against Daniel and Mikey. However, against similar less experienced teams they finished 3rd at the NSC tourney. They will mostly likely be a good match for us this coming year.

Other Possible Varsity Contributors
Josh Shafer - lost 8-0 to Ben Mast, lost 6-4 to Misha Rebec/Nick Rebec
Austin Kanaar - lost 8-0 to Russell Klassen, lost 6-4 to Misha Rebec/Nick Rebec
Jackson Downing - lost 6-0 to Kyle Miller, lost 8-1 to Matthew Amstutz/Seth Krabill
Wil Rettinger - lost 8-1 to Austin Loucks, lost 8-1 to Matthew Amstutz/Seth Krabill

Outlook
This team should be good this year. They will certainly provide us with solid competition. Looking at their lineup, they return 6 of 7 players. While the one that they lose is significant (an All District performer and conference champion), they do have a lot of experience back. I would expect that their doubles will remain the same, so that can only make them stronger. I also expect Montalbano to be a solid if not spectacular #1, possibly moving into Anthony's vacant #1 singles spot and duplicating the success. I'm looking forward to our Triton match next year as a true test of our skills and readiness.

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