BC JV v. Churubusco

Tonight, our JV team went to take on the Eagles varsity. I hadn't seen many of Churubusco's match scores, but against Fairfield and Westview, they were pretty much wiped out. But that was against quality varsity teams, I didn't know what to expect against our JV.

But boy, was I impressed by what I saw from the Bruins. Starting from the top, where Andrew Snyder continued to improve rapidly. Playing his natural style of consistent tennis, Andrew fought through a long first set with Eagle #1 Jesse Lich. Lich hit hard flat strokes, really good for attacking. But Andrew put them back. In the tiebreak, Andrew made 2 early errors, but then ran off 6 straight points to win the tiebreaker. Then in the second set, he became a bit more aggressive. Mostly, he did this using his placement. He hit down the line, then moved Lich to the other side of the court, then came to the net for drop shots. It was a smaggressive improvement if I've ever seen one.

Parth Patel played #2 singles, and his improvement continued as well. Parth has been a consistent player, but is learning to put some pop into the ball. He did this well tonight, controlling most of the points against Churubusco's #1 from last year, Brandon Wormcastle. Parth also had a "moment of beauty" point, where he attacked and pounced on a backhand overhead, pounding it off the court for a winner. Parth had several close games, and had to fight off Wormcastle's big serve, but won comfortably in the end.

Wade Troyer showed that the Tower of Power can play singles to. Wade has become very consistent in his groundstrokes, and caused Busco #3 Landon Pierson lots of difficulty with that consistency. Mix in his attacks of the net, and Pierson had little that he could do to win a point. Pierson was also dealing with an injury, that made him have to take a ten minute medical timeout in the match. But Wade focused through that and won his first varsity match, 6-3, 6-2.

Evan Grimes and Abe Thorne teamed at #1 doubles. Breezing through the first set, they played some great tennis. I was especially pleased at their play from the net. In the second set, inconsistency became a problem. In addition, their opponents began to pick up the level of their play. This forced a tiebreak, but the Bruins team was able to pull out the second set and prevent the match hanging on a third set.

At #2 doubles, Ryan Minter and Himal King took on amiable opponents, who really got excited about things that they did well. Unfortunately, the match wasn't that close, as Ryan and Himal looked like they played really well together. In the couple of points that I saw, Ryan's forehand was too much for the Eagles to hit back. And then there was Himal's overhead, the one that went straight out of the court, over the fence, onto the football field. That was too much too!

In the "JV" match, Joel Gerig and Justin Zehr made quick work of the Eagles. Joel's serve was very impressive, and Justin continued to hit good groundstrokes. Our whole freshman class is showing a lot of improvement, hopefully enough to see them continue to work during the offseason. They could have a very successful class of tennis players by next season if they do. And I like the improvement that I already see!

And tonight, the match was ours, 5-0. I was glad to see us pull out a varsity victory with these hard-working JV players. So many times, they don't all get to play or don't get to play until later. Tonight, they got what they deserved. They've been committed, they've worked hard, and tonight I really thought that showed. Great job guys, looking forward to seeing you playing on our varsity soon!

Scores
#1S - Andrew Snyder - 7-6 (2), 6-0 - Jesse Lich
#2S - Parth Patel - 6-3, 6-3 - Brandon Wormcastle
#3S - Wade Troyer - 6-3, 6-2 - Landon Pierson
#1D - Evan Grimes/Abe Thorne - 6-1, 7-6 - Grant Stephan/Caleb Bonar
#2D - Ryan Minter/Himal King - 6-1, 6-0 - Brian Murphy/Shawn Spencer

#1DJV - Justin Zehr/Joel Gerig - 8-0 - Andrew Biddle/??