Monday Morning Match Memories

MMMM #12: My Favorite Howe Military Memories

It's a strange match that we have every year. Our JV team plays against the varsity of Howe Military. We usually follow it up with a raucous night of making tennis videos while I go find out who our Sectional opponent is. So today, in honor of this overlooked match, my 10 favorite Howe Military moments.

#10: People getting their first varsity wins.
We always play Howe's varsity with our JV players (a tradition that I enjoyed at Angola as well). Because of this, most of our players end up playing their first varsity match against Howe. It's always fun to look at the varsity records, near the bottom of the list and see all the 1-0 and 2-0 records because they've won against Howe.

#09: Padding our win-loss record in down years.
Some years, we have not had the maximum amount of matches allowed for a varsity program due to rain outs, or poor scheduling on our end, or teams that didn't have enough players, or teams that canceled tournaments without telling any of the other teams involved in the tournament (I'm looking at you Lakeland). Anyways, in those years I get to count the Howe win as one that goes on the varsity record, even though we play them with the jivvies. It always makes us look better than we actually are, kind of like saying the Michigan style would have made us 17-0-1 or whatever that was.

#08: Justin Gregor playing #2 singles on varsity!
That's right, in Gregor's sophomore year Howe Military didn't even have enough players to play 2 JV matches. So their coach made their #2 singles player play again. His lucky opponent. Justin Gregor and all of his tennis talents and abilities! After getting wiped out in his first match by Mikey Kelly (6-0, 6-1) he went back on the court and beat Justin (6-0). Weird day, but awesome opportunity for Justin.

#07: People winning their matches 6-0, 6-0.
6-0, 6-0 doesn't happen all that much over the course of a season. It's really a special scoreline and takes a ton of concentration and focus to complete, even against tragic opponents. I like players having the challenge of winning 6-0, 6-0. It tells me who can focus through times that are boring and uninteresting and still play their best. Those same people will then play their best under pressure as well, because they have the mental skills to concentrate and call on their best practices.

#06: Weston and Will Troyer playing together.
#2 doubles, on senior night, 2007. Weston got his first varsity match and the brothers played awesome together, picking up a win. It was fun to watch them play together, to dominate the net, to see their parents watching them together. Happy senior night for Weston too, I hope.

#05: Joe Friesen loses!
In 2004, we had a varsity match rescheduled for the same night as the Howe Military match. So the JV stayed here, and finished their match before I got back with the varsity. When I came inside to go to my mailbox where the scores had been left, I saw that Joe Friesen score was written as if he had lost. I automatically assumed it had been written wrong, and reported the score to the paper as 5-0 for us. However, the next day, it turned out Joe had lost for real. I was kind of shocked, as everyone else had won fairly easily.

#04: Austin Loucks unending set.
As we waited to go for Night Out, Austin played #3 singles and won his first set 6-2. Then his opponent played an excellent second set, taking the lead 6-5 at the end. Austin forced a tiebreak, and while we all waited around, the tiebreak went back and forth, back and forth. Everyone was anxious to leave, but we were all waiting on Austin. Finally, he won, 10-8 in the tiebreak. Everyone was mad at him for getting so nervous, and yet glad he had actually won without going to a third set.

#03: Justin Gregor and Evan Grimes wanting to finish their match in the rain.
Yea, this past year Justin and Evan were the last match on, and it started to get dark and rain a bit. We called everyone off the courts so that they wouldn't get hurt and so that Howe could head home. But no, Evan, Justin and their opponents had other ideas. Both teams agreed they'd keep playing through the rain. Finally, with the score 5-4 in favor of Bethany, we convinced them to stop. Since they were leading, I officially counted it as a win. So nice job, way to desire to finish it out.

#02: Joel's first serve against the girls.
In 2003 we didn't have enough players for a JV, so Joel King volunteered to play down against Howe. He played a regular varsity match in doubles with Jordan Kauffman, then played another doubles match against a Howe JV team. The second match was against two female players. They didn't much looked like they cared to be on the court. After warming up without hardly getting a racket on the ball, the girls said they were ready to start. Joel served first and hit a gentle second serve down the T. The Howe Military player didn't move at all, just watched it go by without moving a muscle, then said, "Ummm, yea, that was good." That pretty told the story of the match.

#01: My golden set in Sectional 1997.
#1 has nothing to do with Bethany. As a junior at Angola, we drew Howe Military in the first round of the Sectional. In my match, I was able to win the first set without losing a set. Actually, I was up 6-0, 3-0 before I lost a point. It was incredible and I don't even know if I could do that again now.

Anyways, just some thoughts on a different match than the others I've been writing about. Have fun reminiscing about your good old days playing our fun friends from the Military Institute.