Bethany Christian vs. Triton

What a match for our team! Not to end all excitement, but this was one of the most intense matches we've played since the East Noble Regional match last year, and with players who have never experienced the pressure before. We handled ourselves well, and came out on top. Nice job Bruins!

We have a great singles lineup this year, and we know that we need to win a lot of these matches to see things go well for the team. So it was good to see Seth Krabill and Mikey Kelly do well. Triton's weakness happened to be at the same position as our strength. Their #2 singles player did not play last year and their #3 singles player is a freshman, so they are rounding their way into shape but are not nearly as experienced as Mikey and Seth. And for us, with having 3 singles players who are so close to each other in talent, our lower two positions should be doing quite well (which they have been!)

Mikey and Seth both put together solid matches. It was good to see Mikey attack a bit, and is always good to see Seth swinging in groundstrokes from all over the place and putting the heavy topspin on every shot. Seth's deep returns and Mikey's attacking pace and volleys allowed them to win relatively easy matches to give us a quick 2-0 in the team match.

But as everyone knows (if they've been reading the blog since last year) you don't win matches based on one, two, or three great individuals, you can only beat good teams if you have depth. So even with a 2-0 lead, things were not wrapped up. Every other match was close as close can be, and we needed one more.

In Ben's #1 singles match he played undefeated senior Ben Montalbano. Ben took the lead early on his serve and the match stayed on serve until 5-4. Leading 5-4, Ben Mast had two break points to take the first set. He had been playing unbelievably well agaisnt Montalbano's frustrating style. Montalbano is a great player who plays with speed and soft hands. He rarely hits anything hard, but has uncanny placement and literally gets a racket to anything. Ben attacked sure and steady on every point and seemed poised to take the set. But he missed two shots, and honestly, things unravelled from there. After Montalbano held to tie it at 5-5, Ben was broken quickly to be down 5-6. Montalbano won the set 7-5. Unfortunately, this just made Ben press harder, and despite taking a 2-0 lead in the second, he could not stop Montalbano's constant consistent pressure. He fell and the Trojan's had their first point.

At #2 doubles, Russell and Nick started out very well. Just as they have been playing this week they attacked the net and finished volleys and took a 4-1 lead. But just like that, it disappeared, and they had to gruel through the first set. They ended up pulling it out 6-4. In the second set, it looked like the life and confidence was sucked out of them. They slumped to a second set defeat as the Trojan team of Kreig Vories and Josh Shafer came to life. The third set didn't start out all that well, as this time Triton took a 4-1 lead. A slight change in tactics picked up the Bruins play, and with backhands flying past the Trojans, Nick and Russell tied it at 4-4. But the pressure got to them and they got tight. A close 4-4 game was won by Shafer and Vories, and then they eased to the three set victory. Bethany Christian 2, Triton 2.

All on #1 doubles.

Kyle and Austin knew they were in for a close match from the beginning. The first set tilted back and forth until it ended up in a tiebreak. Kyle and Austin played a bit tentative, and got down quickly in the breaker. No miracles this time, no 6 points in a row, and Bryant Davenport and Darius Stevens took the first set. But it was a different story in the second, Kyle and Austin came out much looser and actually dominated the set. The net was their friend, and they put away a lot of balls to push the Trojans back. The third set started the same way, and eventually Kyle and Austin found themselves up 5-3 and serving for the match. A few errors and some excellent shots later, the squandered that chance. Then they lost the next two games on top of it. Finally, they loosened up to force a third set tiebreak. They then raced to the 5-1 lead in the tiebreak with aggressive net play and fine volleys, along with good serving. But the Trojans wouldn't quit. They fought back to make the tiebreak tied at 5-5. Then it two short points we won! Austin returned crosscourt and Kyle finished it at the net. Kyle served and then hit a backhand crosscourt that Triton dropped in the net. And that was the match!

So, we won 3-2, over a team that was 6-1 on this early season. Also, Kyle and Austin handed their #1 doubles their first loss of the season. It was a valiant effort all around. I was so happy to be singing "Sarasponda" as we pulled out of the parking lot, because it could have easily been otherwise. Awesome match and a great Labor Day Weekend!


Varsity: At 5-5 in the 3rd set tiebreak, Bryant Davenport served to Austin Loucks. It's very easy to be tight and and nervous in big moments, but Andrew and I had just been remarking that at all the big pressure moments of the match, the team that had been more aggressive had come out on top. Sure enough, Austin pounded a crosscourt return forcing Davenport off the court. The aggressive return was beautiful and Kyle and Austin finished off the point at the net to give themselves the match point that they converted for the win. It is beautiful when we are aggressive in pressure-packed situations.

JV: With such a close varsity match, I didn't see much of the JV. But according to Andrew Lanctot, Blake Shetler's whole match was beautiful. Against a JV that includes two players who played varsity last year, Blake was the only one to come away with the win. But what Andrew thought was beautiful was the way Blake listened to what Andrew said at the fence and in between games, and then went and applied it to the match. Even when it made him uncomfortable, Blake was able to learn and take advantage of having a coach on his side. That is important and, I guess, beautiful!

Scores

Varsity
#1S - Ben Mast - 5-7, 3-6 - Ben Montalbano (12)
#2S - Seth Krabill - 6-1, 6-0 - Josh Gephart (12)
#3S - Mikey Kelly - 6-2, 6-1 - Jeff Ross (9)
#1D - Austin Loucks/Kyle Miller - 6-7 (3), 6-3, 7-6 (5) - Bryant Davenport (12)/Darius Stevens (12)
#2D - Nick Rebec/Russell Klassen - 6-4, 1-6, 4-6 - Kreig Vories (12)/Josh Shafer (10)

Junior Varsity
#1SJV - Blake Shetler - 8-5 - Pete Kauffman (9)
#2SJV - Matt Ebersole - 5-8 - Jackson Downing (10)
#1DJV - Jake Gerig/Evan Grimes - 3-8 - Jordan Everett (11)/Austin Davis (11)
#2DJV - Ike Lehman/Ryan Minter - 2-8 - Wil Rettinger (10)/Austin Kanaar (10)
#3DJV - Ike Lehman/Ryan Minter - 7-8 (5) - Aaron Stevens (9)/Clay Yeo (9)