Bethany Christian vs. Bremen

After three straight losses, a couple that were really heartbreaking, it was good to win a match tonight. It was good to win a match on senior night. But unfortunately, it was the seniors who didn't get to finish their beautiful matches before the rains opened up on us.

Seth Krabill pulled off his first victory at #1S tonight. But for Seth, it happened to come against a #1S JV player. Bremen's normal #1 player hurt himself this week, and so the Lions did a straight sub, which is allowed in injury situations. So Justin Bogart found himself moving up a full 7 positions. Of course, Seth made an even more drastic move, from #2S JV to #1S, but that happened during the off-season. The match itself wasn't much to report. It was what you would expect from a #1 varsity player against a #1 JV player. Seth had some great attacking points, especially when he was able to get to the net.

Ben Mast played the Lions normal #2, Jaxson Burkins, who has a really sweet first name. Ben was able to continue a proud Bruin position (set last year by Jared Schwartzentruber) of dominating #2 singles. Don't know if many people realize this, but in the last 37 matches that Bethany tennis has played, we've lost a total of 3 #2 singles matches. Between Jared, Jonny, Seth and now Ben, we're doing pretty well at #2. Ben played confidently and aggressively, working on his net game as well. He only faired one game worse than Seth, winning 6-1, 6-0.

At #3 singles, Russell Klassen looked like he was going to join the trend of easy singles matches. Controlling the points, he took a lead built on the errors of sophomore opponent Briley Bollenbacher. In the first set, he didn't lose a game. Then he immediately lost the first game of the second set. And the second set didn't go very well. Russell looked like he was losing energy in every game. His shots fell shorter, his feet stopped moving and he looked like he was just pushing the ball. After a little pep talk, Russell picked it up at the end, despite trailing 4-3. As the sprinkles started to fall down, Russell clinched the varsity match with the third point, stroking confidently to a victory.

#1 doubles was again a match of the slow start. Austin and Kyle looked as nervous as I've ever seen them in dropping the first 3 games of the first set. They were able to pull back into the set, but never really looked convincing. Volleys were pushed, shots were just wide, and their rhythm was never developed. Until the second set, that is. In the second set, everything started to come together. They put balls away at the net, hit deep returns and won the net battles. From the start of the second set on, they won 11 of 14 games. In the third set, they held a 5-2 advantage and were one point into the game when the clouds opened up. We couldn't risk injury, especially with the team match over, and so the match was called.

They same thing happened for #2 doubles. Nick and Misha Rebec enjoyed senior night on the same court. They didn't seem to have one single thing working for them every time, but they were competing. In the first set, down 3-2, I emphasized the importance of winning the next two games, to see how the Lions would respond to being down in the match. They did, and the two game swing led to the Bruins taking the first set. In the second, the match stayed tight, always within one game but always with the Lions leading. After tying the match at 6-6, Nick and Misha lost the tiebreaker. With sets split and ready to resume, the rain cut off the #2 doubles match as well.

So for the varsity, we won 3-0. It was good to see confident performances all around tonight. I really think we're starting to gel with our new identity as a team this year, hopefully getting better at playing under pressure. I sure think we'll need that aggressive in the face of pressure attitude come Sectional time.

Only one JV match was finished, and that was Claude Stickler dismantling Lion #1 JV player Alex Fitch (who normally plays #2, and looked real confused when announced as #1). Claude's passing shots were the story of the match, as he controlled them with pinpoint precision, if not always with power. Matt Ebersole was one point away from Bethany's second victory, leading 7-1, 40-15 when play was suspended. It's too bad it rained, we would have picked up another satisfying JV win.


Varsity: I don't know if it's exactly a beautiful point, but I loved the way that Russell closed out the last 3 games of his match. First of all, he found energy. He looked like he was excited to play, despite telling me at the changeover that he was drained. But he didn't look that way on the court. He looked ready and in control. Sometimes I think we underestimate the mental edge it gives us to look up and energized, powerful and confident. Russell combined this with well struck forehands to be a commanding presence in finishing out his match.

Junior Varsity: The aggressiveness of placement is often overlooked. We often try to be aggressive by attacking the net, or hitting the ball hard. Sometimes, it's an aggressive and winning move to place the ball well. Claude showed this in his match. While his opponent Alex Fitch tried to attack the net, Claude would line the ball up down-the-line and slice it right past his onrushing opponent. No pace, no power, just perfect placement a step inside the line. It was a smaggressive play, a winner with little chance of error. Beautiful!

Scores

Varsity
#1S - Seth Krabill - 6-0, 6-0 - Justin Bogart (12)
#2S - Ben Mast - 6-1, 6-0 - Jaxson Burkins (12)
#3S - Russell Klassen - 6-0, 6-4 - Briley Bollenbacher (10)
#1D - Austin Loucks/Kyle Miller - 4-6, 6-1, 5-2 (Rain Out) - Mitch Cook (12)/Thomas Manges (11)
#2D - Nick Rebec/Misha Rebec - 6-4, 6-7 (5), (Rain Out) - Ty Holmes (11)/Alex Overholser (11)

Junior Varsity
#1SJV - Claude Stickler - 8-2 - Alex Fitch (11)
#2SJV - Matt Ebersole - 7-1 (Rain Out) - Joey Zeltwanger (9)
#1DJV - Jake Gerig/Blake Shetler - 1-1 (Rain Out) - Ben Sime (12)/Austin Huff (10)
#2DJV - Evan Grimes/Ryan Minter - 1-0 (Rain Out) - Brad Foster (9)/Nate Strehler (9)