Monday Morning Match Memories

I've made a lot of match memories posts over the last year, and each of them help to define what Bethany Christian tennis is all about. If you've never read any of them, or want to review, that's what this post is for. Here is a short synopsis, with the moral of the story, for each of my favorite match memories so far.

BC vs. Eastern, 2009
Score: Bethany 2, Eastern 3
Synopsis: Against a one loss team, Kyle and Austin came out playing with high energy, and it filtered into the rest of the team. Playing our best tennis of the year, with a chance to win the tournament, we fell just short.
Moral of the Story: Energy will filter to through the whole team.

BC vs. Howe Military, thru the years
Score: NA
Synopsis: Counting down the top 10 memories from playing Howe Military. Includes stories about Justin Gregor, Evan Grimes, Austin Loucks, Joel King, Will and Weston Troyer among others.
Moral of the Story: Even a match that we usually win easily with our JV has it's purposes and memories.

BC at Jimtown JV Invite, 2008
Score: 1st Place
Synopsis: Our JV team, led by our current group of varsity players, dominated this tourney against Concord, Jimtown and Rochester. We did not lose a position in the entire tournament!
Moral of the Story: We have lots of really great talent on the varsity this year.

BC vs. NorthWood, 2008 Sectional Final
Score: 4-1
Synopsis: The team (full of seniors) played with a lot of poise and emotion, and won the first 3 matches off the court to sweep to a Sectional championship.
Moral of the Story: A Sectional championship was quite an enjoyable relief to share with those who worked for it!

BC vs. Penn, 2008
Score: 4-1
Synopsis: No one expected us to compete with a school of 3,300 students who had a tradition of excellent tennis. But we came out believing, and letting everyone know it with our high fives and encouragements. We all shared the energy in our loosest, best played match of the year.
Moral of the Story: When no one expects you to win, competing with confidence and energy and winning is the ultimate joy!

Johnny/Jeremy vs. Andy Van Klaveren/Michael Ciesielski, 2007
Score: 6-1, 6-7 (3), 7-6 (8)
Synopsis: After storming through the first set, Johnny and Jeremy got into the best match I've seen for a long time. They trailed 3-6 in the 3rd set tiebreaker, but fought off three match points to come back and win. Did I mention the team match was tied 2-2 at the time?
Moral of the Story: Pressure is a good thing, it means you are playing for something. Enjoy it!

BC vs. Lakeland, 2004
Score: 2-3
Synopsis: In the Lakeland Tournament Final, with the match tied at 2-2 , our #1 doubles team kind of fell apart emotionally. But it taught a lesson to the rest of the team, that we must deal with emotion.
Moral of the Story: We have to learn to deal with tension, emotion and the crowd in healthy ways.

Matthew Amstutz vs. Malachi Randolph, 2008
Score: 6-4, 4-6, 6-1
Synopsis: On senior night, Matthew jumped up from #3 singles JV to play #3 singles on the varsity. In a close and powerful match, Matthew got what he deserved, a big win!
Moral of the Story: Every player is important on pushing a team to victory. As a #3 singles JV player, Matthew did as much as anyone to help us win a Sectional.

BC vs. Northridge, 2007
Score: 2-3
Synopsis: Jonny Shenk and Luke Hostetter win there positions in 3 sets, but the whole team comes out firing, setting the tone for what would be our Sectional Runner-Up team.
Moral of the Story: Three things defined this team, and need to be true to compete.
1. We meet challenges with confidence and compete our best.
2. We play with emotion and passion.
3. We play without fear.

BC vs. Goshen, 2003
Score: 1-4
Synopsis: I gave the most awesome pregame speech ever, telling our team to "Cut off their heads." We lose, and lose badly.
Moral of the Story: Again, three lessons from this story.
1. A coach should make their words few, honest, and impactful.
2. Talent beats emotion.
3. Depth wins Sectionals.

Joel King vs. Marc Stutzman, 2004
Score: 6-4, 6-7(4), 6-4
Synopsis: A super tight, super competitive match with it's share of luck and skill, sees Joel pull out a gutty performance that actually ends at Goshen College's courts under the lights.
Moral of the Story: Joel launched an era in Bruin tennis, an era of knowing we can win against anyone.

Wes Klassen vs. Preston Swain, 2005
Score: 7-6 (5), 6-1
Synopsis: Wes swings big all match long, pounding his forehand into Preston's backhand, and pulls off a signature win in his great career.
Moral of the Story: In big matches, play smaggressive. Wes swung big, but often went crosscourt.

BC vs. Triton, 2003
Score: 3-2
Synopsis: Joel King makes a massive comeback, upsetting the opposing coach and firing up all of the Bruin players in one of the first close matches I had coached. It's still one of my favorites to this day.
Moral of the Story: Use your energy, get yourself up after big shots, have fun!

If you read all the way through the posts, I'm impressed. What did you learn? Are any alumni on here remembering these matches? Leave your comments!