Bethany Christian vs. Jimtown

Last weekend, we began a match at just after 1:00 in the afternoon against Jimtown. A week later, at about 10:30 in the morning, we finished it. In a very strange match, we were able to overcome the rain, a forfeit, and eventually our opponent for a somewhat dramatic 3-2 win.

We started the match last Saturday, August 22 after having fallen 5-0 to Concord and watching the rain fall on us for about an hour. We cleared the courts and the match began. One match started off really well for us. Mikey Kelly, playing #3 singles, jumped out to a good lead in the first set as he was able to overpower and attack Jimtown's returning #3 player, senior Bret Giddings. Rain began to fall with Mikey leading the match 6-3, 1-0.

Other matches were also in progress when the storms rolled in. Seth Krabill was two points from taking the first set, while Ben Mast had just lost the first set. #1 doubles and #2 doubles both held leads, but the rain forced us off the court. After a quick check of the radar and coaches deliberation, we decided to postpone until this weekend.

Unfortunately, Mikey had a college visit this weekend, and couldn't make the match. According to IHSAA rules that we figured out as the week went on, this meant that we had to forfeit his match. That was too bad for us obviously, but you roll with the rough times.

So we took to the court this week and resumed our matches. Ben Mast started in a hole, down a set and serving to begin the second. I felt confident that he would play a better match this week, as last week he had played nervous and uncertain against the left-handed Matt Candler. But, unfortunately, this week didn't start any better. I'm not sure what has been throwing Ben off his game so much with Candler, but he just hasn't looked like himself. Where he has been able to attack with his flat forehand and move into the court most of the time, his match against Candler found him constantly pushed back and not able to find any winning combinations. Not too long after they resumed, the #1 match was done, and Ben was on the short side of it.

At #2 singles, Seth won two quick points to win the first set as his match resumed. It was such a weird thing, but with the confidence of a set won, Seth played a great second set. He continues to impress as he controls the points and picks the correct times to push forward to the net. His opponent, senior Shane Cook, does not have the same weapons that Matt Candler had. Still, when he did play to the strengths of his serve and forehand, Seth was able to neutralize these attacks. The result was a quick singles win of our own to leave us down 2-1 in the official score.

#2 doubles, Russell Klassen and Nick Rebec, had started this match with a 4-1 lead. I'm not sure if they weren't ready to play or just expected it to be easy, but they lost all of that lead in about 10 minutes to find themselves in a tight match which we really needed to win. To Russell and Nick's credit, they did not dwell on the lost lead but reasserted themselves at the baseline and at the net. Putting some extra pressure on, they began to crack the Jimmies resurgence. When they took the first set in two games, some of the energy disappeared from the Jimmies #2 doubles team. Russell and Nick took 8 of the last 9 games to close out the match.

So, the match was tied 2-2 and came down to the winner of #1 doubles. Kyle Miller and Austin Loucks had played a couple of really good matches together, including Thursday's comeback third set win over Fremont, but are still finding their way at the #1 doubles position. With the match on the line, I was interested to see how they would adjust to the pressure. They had held a 4-2 lead when play was suspended, and they too resumed play by letting senior Josh George and freshman Brett Aller right back into the match. However, due to a great service game by Austin, we were able to close out the first set.

But the Jimmies doubles just kept coming at us, and we began to compound their attacking tennis with simple errors of our own. Double faults mounted in the second set, and as the mistakes increased, so did our team's frustration. They stopped having fun and enjoying the points and began to focus on the win. And so they also worried about the loss. Or at least that was my impression. But Kyle and Austin tightened up considerably and gave away many errors, and the Jimmies continued to play better and better with every mistake we gave them. The second set went to Jimtown.

So a 10-point tiebreaker would decide it all. Last year, these were not kind to us, as we lost many "super" tiebreakers, twice costing us match wins (one against Concord, one against Westview). I think it is a terrible way to end a match, especially if the team match depends upon it, but... we had to play.

The momentum was against us as well. Jimtown had just played some great tennis and taken the second set, and we had kind of choked. So it was no surprise that we opened the tiebreak tight, and fell behind from the very first point. For awhile we went back and forth, but we were always down. Finally, we found ourselves down 3-6. And then our attitude completely changed. We won a point and got pumped about it. Austin yelled "Come on!" And then we won another point. And then they pushed a volley long. Then we volleyed at their feet. Point after point swung our way, and we won seven points in a row to win the tiebreaker and the match!

I was really proud of the guys who worked hard and well under pressure in this match. After Ben's match, we had to win every position, and we did. It's sometimes tough to perform in those situations. We'll take this experience and hopefully build on it!


Obviously, Kyle and Austin's ability to clinch from 3-6 down in the tiebreaker to a 10-6 win is a thing of beauty! Watching two players work together to pick up an entire team, with the pressure firmly in front of them, it's the thing that makes you want to pump your fist and say "c'mon!" And that's something we need a little bit more from this team, the excitement, the energy, the verbal encouragement and "pumped-upness!"

What you got in you? Confidence!
What you got? Pumped-upness!

The other memorable moment from this match is from #2 doubles. Russell was serving, up 15-love in the game, and pounded a serve into the wrong service box. Luckily for us, the Jimtown player was not quick enough to jump out of the way as the ball struck his sneaker just before he could pull it out of the way. 30-love!

Scores
#1S - Ben Mast - 1-6, 0-6 - Matt Candler (12)
#2S - Seth Krabill - 6-2, 6-2 - Shane Cook (12)
#3S - Mikey Kelly - 6-3, 1-0, suspended - Bret Giddings (12)
#1D - Kyle Miller/Austin Loucks - 6-3, 5-7, (10-6) - Josh George (12)/Brett Aller (9)
#2D - Russell Klassen/Nick Rebec - 6-4, 6-1 - Jake Hoffman (?)/John Gray (?)