Sectional Preview

Details:
- First Round, Thursday, 4:30 PM; Goshen vs. Jimtown
- Semi-Finals, Saturday, 9:00 AM; Bethany Christian vs. Fairfield, First Round Winner vs. NorthWood
- Final, Saturday, 1:00 PM

All matches held at Goshen High School (alternate location determined if rain is a factor)

Last Season Review: Last season the Goshen Tennis Sectional kept up its reputation for insanely close matches. In 2007, all four matches in the Sectional were decided by 3-2 scorelines. Last year, the first round and both semi-finals were 3-2, and the final was 4-1. We are the defending champion, but return no players from that championship team. The first round matchup last year pitted Goshen and Jimtown, which Jimtown won 3-2. NorthWood then defeated Jimtown in the semi-finals 3-2 while the Bruins defeated Fairfield by the same score. In the final, Bethany Christian defeated NorthWood 4-1 to seal our first boy's tennis Sectional championship. Read the full article here.

Bethany Christian Details: We come into the Sectional off a great tournament run at Wabash. We finished 3rd but were given a chance to win the tourney with great play from #3 singles (Blake Shetler) and #2 doubles (Russell Klassen/Nick Rebec). The tournament also saw #1 player Seth Krabill go undefeated. So we should enter the Sectional with some confidence. On Monday, we defeated Howe Military in our last varsity match to end the season with a 13-7 record. It's an incredible rebound year, ending up with no players returning from our championship season. Our guys should be proud of the season thus far.

Fairfield Details: Fairfield finished the 2009 season with a 12-6 record. They wound down the season on Monday with a 3-1 loss to Northridge, and should be primed for a good run in the Sectional. On the weekend they secured 2nd place at the NECC Conference Tournament, after finishing the regular season in 2nd as well. In both cases they finished behind Angola.

Goshen Details: Goshen actually played their first round opponent, Jimtown, on Tuesday to wrap up their regular season. They had a very respectable winning record of 9-7 on the year, finishing 6th in the NLC behind powerhouses Concord, Northridge, and Warsaw among others. They lost the matchup Tuesday with the Jimmies, so will be looking for some turnaround tonight.

Jimtown Details: Jimtown will be looking to repeat that performance that propelled them to a win over Goshen. They have had strong singles play all season, and as a result finished with a record of 13-5. They are also the most decorated team in our Sectional this year, winning the NSC tournament and regular season crowns. They were able to pull off individual conference championships at each singles spot, so that leaves them looking good for Sectional.

NorthWood Details: NorthWood finds themselves in the exact same position we ended up in this year. In 2008, they had a strong team, worthy of the Sectional crown. They had won the Sectional back in 2007. But this year they returned no varsity players and slumped to a 1-12 season. Their win came Tuesday against Laville, a 4-1 triumph to punctuate the regular season.

Probable Lineups
Bethany Christian
#1S - Seth Krabill
#2S - Ben Mast
#3S - Blake Shetler
#1D - Austin Loucks/Kyle Miller
#2D - Nick Rebec/Russell Klassen

Fairfield
#1S - Wyatt Stutzman
#2S - Malachi Randolph
#3S - Brad Shipley
#1D - Derick Troeger/Josh Beck
#2D - Derek Thwaits/Trent Kauffman

Goshen
#1S - Andy Van Klaveren
#2S - Seth Koble
#3S - Stefan Baumgartner
#1D - Jonny Tan/Nick Dandino
#2D - Eli Metzler-Prieb/Paul Johnson

Jimtown
#1S - Matt Candler
#2S - Shane Cook
#3S - Bret Giddings
#1D - Josh George/Brett Aller
#2D - Nick Anglemyer-John Raderstorf

NorthWood
#1S - Miro Arguijo
#2S - Corey Diener
#3S - Ben Zercher
#1D - Jayson Linhart/Tyler Rhoades
#2D - Shawn Stahley/Brennan Angle

Results against Other Schools in Sectional
Bethany Christian - 3-1 - def. Goshen 5-0, def. Jimtown 3-2, def. NorthWood 5-0, lost to Fairfield 1-4

Fairfield - 2-1 - def. NorthWood 5-0, lost to Jimtown 3-2, def. Bethany Christian 4-1

Jimtown - 3-1 - def. NorthWood 5-0, lost to Bethany Christian 3-2, def. Fairfield 3-2, def. Goshen 4-1

Goshen - 1-2 - lost to Bethany Christian 0-5, def. NorthWood 4-1, lost to Jimtown 1-4

NorthWood - 0-4 - lost to Jimtown 0-5, lost to Fairfield 0-5, lost to Goshen 1-4, lost to Bethany Christian 0-5

Outlook: The most competitive Sectional around the area stays competitive. Just look at the scores, anyone can beat anyone. In fact, we have three schools who lost to each other in the regular season. If it plays out the exact same way as the season, that would leave Jimtown as the champion. That may happen, but things rarely stay the same way in Sectional. It's going to be exciting and I can't wait to get started. Writing a long post like this just makes me want to play. Good luck to all, it's going to be fun!