Bethany Christian vs. Fairfield - Sectional

When we played Fairfield during the regular season, we came in a bit nervous and played a bit nervous on a gray day on the Fairfield courts. We figured that if we could smooth out our nerves and play aggressive, and perhaps get the Falcons to feel a bit nervous, that maybe we would be able to turn the 1-4 loss into a 3-2 win.

We fulfilled our end of the bargain, but the Falcons were just too good this year. Fairfield controlled their nerves well and won the big points, and though we competed much better, we lost this Sectional semi-final by the same score, 1-4.

It was cold and rainy in Goshen as we got ready for our Saturday match, and so the decision was made to move the match indoors, to Maple City Racquet Club. This ended up being a good thing for Fairfield. A match indoors changes the dynamics a bit, as the courts are faster and reward power more than matches played outside. Fairfield was a more powerful team than us this year, and that showed from the beginning of the matches.

Because there was another semi-final going on at the same time (Jimtown vs. NorthWood), we began play on only two courts. #1 singles and #1 doubles were the first matches to be contested, and we began both with high hopes. Seth Krabill competed well with Wyatt Stutzman, but from the beginning it was obvious that Wyatt had his attacking forehand dialed in. Seth relied heavily on mistakes from the Fairfield junior, and Wyatt simply didn't make many. He attacked over and over again with pace and placement and left Seth with little ability to come forward. Seth kept the match close for the first set, but then fell 6-2 in the second.

At #1 doubles, Austin and Kyle continued their constantly improving play. They lost 2-6, 2-6 to Fairfield earlier in the season, but brought an attacking and aggressive style to the early part of this Sectional match. As a result, they kept the first set very close, jumping out to the lead, falling behind but then having opportunities to cut tie the set at 5-5. Unfortunately, they lost the close first set and seemed to have their concentration unravel a bit from there. Frustration crept in at the corners of the game, and they found themselves also down 5-2 in the second set. They rallied back to take a game, but then fell 6-3 in the second.

Those were matches that we had hoped to turn around and win on this Saturday, and without them, were left needing all three of the final positions to go on the courts. Austin, Kyle and Seth had all played well, but the Falcons aggressive, confident, and well-practiced play on the big points allowed them to take those matches. Fortunately, one of the next positions was one that we had won easily during the season.

Again, Ben Mast came out confident at #2 singles. However, junior opponent Malachi Randolph was holding nothing back. He was overly aggressive, just the way he needed to be to try and rattle Ben. And he almost succeeded. It felt as if Randolph would win just one more game in the first set, he might crack Ben's mental strength. But Ben didn't allow him to. After several long games and deuces, Ben finally took a 4-3 lead. Easily holding serve, he was then able to put the pressure on Randolph. Where great attacking net play had served him well early in the match, now errors began to sneak in for the Fairfield junior. He dropped the set, and the energy level went way down, as Ben cruised in the second set to a 6-1 score.

With that match in hand, #2 doubles became important. In this match, we came out playing our best aggressive tennis of the season. Russell and Nick have been improving dramatically in the last weeks of the season, and it showed in this match. They learned to play with some confidence, they hit through volleys, put away shots and played intense. All of this led to a first set victory. All of the sudden, an upset looked possible as we could maybe tie the match at 2-2. In the second set, they continued their great play, but near the middle, began to be a little less aggressive around the net and missed a few big shots. Without the putaways and intimidating shots, the Falcons slipped by in the second set. In the third, Russell and Nick came out well, taking an early lead. But the Falcons loosened up too much, and began to fire winners from all over the court, to force errors and they ended up taking the match for the third Falcon point.

However, by that point it looked like they were heading to victory anyways, because the #3 singles match had started. They have a great #3 singles player, sophomore Brad Shipley, and he came out aggressive and ready to play. Blake was still only in his sixth varsity match, while Shipley had finished second at his conference tournament. So experience and shot making was the difference. Blake did a great job of executing our strategy, but Shipley simply had more shots to counter with. In a match with relatively little drama, Shipley won.

And thus our season ended the way it started, a 1-4 loss to a good team. I'll wrap up the season sometime this week with some final thoughts, but it's never fun to say goodbye to a team. I am proud to tears of the members of this team, we ended up having no returning players from last year and still put out 13 victories. That is amazing! But the end of the season still stings. It brings closure on the hope that carried us through many practices and weight lifting sessions and all else.

But hope always springs forth anew, and soon we will begin to build the hope, belief and confidence for another run at the Sectional title in 2010. Because competing, being there, working hard and having a shot, that's the other part of our "new tradition."

Scores

#1S - Seth Krabill - 4-6, 2-6 - Wyatt Stutzman (11)
#2S - Ben Mast - 6-3, 6-1 - Malachi Randolph (11)
#3S - Blake Shetler - 2-6, 1-6 - Brad Shipley (10)
#1D - Austin Loucks/Kyle Miller - 4-6, 3-6 - Derick Troeger (12)/Josh Beck (12)
#2D - Nick Rebec/Russell Klassen - 6-3, 4-6, 3-6 - Derek Thwaits (12)/Trent Kauffman (12)