BC v. Mishawaka

Tonight, we performed very solidly in a match where we simply had the better team. All up and down the line, guys focused and went about their match in their style. It is such an important thing to play our games no matter who the opponent is, and we did a good job sticking to the game plans tonight.

None of the matches were particularly close, but I was very impressed with the consistency level of all 3 Caveman singles players. The closest match was #3 singles, where Nate and sophomore Jon Dickerson traded 2 games each to start the match. Dickerson had a very good first serve and Nate was somewhat stumped on what to do with his second. But after he figured that out, he was able to win 10 of the next 11 games for a 6-2, 6-1 win.

As is his custom, Nate was the fourth position off the courts tonight. But unlike other nights, he was not the clinching point. That honor belonged to Seth, who cruised through aggressive junior Andrew Laubner. Laubner seemed to decide early in the match that he couldn't stay in consistent long rallies with Seth, so the Caveman #2 just started to go big whenever he had an opportunity. This led to impressive winners, but too many errors. Also found some big serves tonight as well, and won 6-0, 6-0.

First off the courts was #1 doubles. Kyle Miller and Matt Ebersole found in aggressive putaway positions time after time in their match. They played good smaggressive tennis, and then put the balls away that were presented to them. At #1 singles, Ben Mast did much the same. It was again good to see the finishing strokes from both of our #1 positions, as we picked up our first #1 doubles victory of the year.

Finishing off the match for the Bruins were juniors Blake Shetler and Evan Grimes. After a brief hiccup in the first set, Blake and Evan served and stroked their way to a rolling victory. Keeping stats for the match, I noticed that they won a whopping 95% of the points in which they got their 1st serves in. Many of these came by forcing errors with well placed serves. It's good to see our target practice paying off!

The real match of the day came at the JV level, where Ryan Minter went the distance in getting the JV it's first victory of the young season. And by saying he went the distance, I mean he went all the way to the first JV tiebreak of the year. His match went back and forth, with neither player ever leading by more than a game. With Ryan down 6-7, I told him to focus on hitting to freshman Mitchell Montgomery's backhand. Ryan won the next game at love to force the tiebreak. In the tiebreak, Ryan rushed out to a lead of 5-1 and then teetered to the 7-4 victory.

That was the only JV match, so the JV won! Congrats.

There were many beautiful moments in tonight's match, like watching Evan adjust his return to attack the net, or watching Nate whip a beautiful serve in. But perhaps my favorite part of the night was watching Kyle and Matt. Both Kyle and Matt can kill the ball on overheads and volleys, and as they aggressively attack the net in their matches they often hit balls at the opponent who is still stuck at the net. This is the proper play, and can be somewhat intimidating. But tonight, when they put the ball away they made nice solid volleys without pounding their opponents. They still hit the right play, they still hit it at their opponents, but the shots were not meant to intimidate or harm. Just to win the point.

I don't know if they meant it like this, but it embodied for me what I want this team to be about. We're not going to patronize anybody, we're going to play the right way, but we're doing it with love. I know that seems mushy, but it was a concrete example of what I hope is growing in our team.

And I hope our talent is growing as well. Another good match is in the books, and we hit the courts again tomorrow. Always focus, always battle.

Varsity
#1S - Ben Mast - 6-0, 6-0 - Bobby LeRoy (11)
#2S - Seth Krabill - 6-0, 6-0 - Andrew Laubner (11)
#3S - Nate Brendle - 6-2, 6-1 - Jon Dickerson (10)
#1D - Kyle Miller/Matt Ebersole - 6-0, 6-0 - Andrew Furlow (10)/Andy Dong (10)
#2D - Blake Shetler/Evan Grimes - 6-1, 6-0 - Michael Furlow (10)/Ryan Mathes (11)

Junior Varsity
#1SJV - Ryan Minter - 8-7 (4) - Mitchell Montgomery (9)