BC v. Bremen

We fell in love with the tiebreak in the doubles matches tonight, but played assertive tennis throughout, and won a 5-0 decision.

After falling to Fairfield last night, this certainly looked like it could be a trap match. The Lions were 14-3 coming into the match, with their only losses coming against Fairfield, Plymouth, and South Bend St. Joseph's. Those are all quality losses. Each of those teams had beaten Bremen by a 4-1 scoreline. They had also played Monday, clinching their conference championship with a win over John Glenn.

I asked our guys on the varsity to take a new mindset into this match, one that we need to fully develop by Sectional. My word for the mindset is assertive. In every point, we seek to be on the front foot and take control of the point. We don't want to be reactive, but instead we want to be in charge.

Right from the beginning of most matches, I could tell we were beginning to get the message. Ben Mast attacked from the start, aggressively taking the net and finishing off points with confident overheads from all angles. He even began to flatten the ball out more, which was making passing shots difficult for Bremen #1 Taylor Fanning.

And beside, Seth was taking control as well. Against a similar player to his Fairfield opponent, Seth had to use a similar game. Seth's way of taking control is different than Ben, but he found ways to stay assertive in points. High topspin balls into junior Briley Bollenbacher's backhand were working during this match, and Seth stayed on that all night.

Nate continued the singles theme. Playing a consistent game of "ball in the court," Nate began to find his serve and was able to run off 9 of 11 games after being tied at 3 in the first set. Again, he controlled the points with good serves and solid groundstrokes. It was a beautiful victory for Nate.

At #2 doubles, Russell and Blake started off well. They were aggressive at the net, finished off points, and were serving extremely well. Then in the second set, things fell apart. They stopped being aggressive, stopped moving their feet, stopped being in charge of the points. Bremen's pair of Austin Huff and Brad Foster controlled the net and hit excellent volleys and overheads to take a 4-1 lead. With a little encouragement, Russell and Blake found their assertiveness again and attacked their away into a 5-4 lead. But they couldn't end the match. Another try at 6-5, but they couldn't end it. However, in the tiebreaker they took control right away. They built themselves a large lead, and finished the tiebreaker at 7-3 to win the match in two sets.

#1 doubles took longer, much longer. Of all of the teams in the Fairfield match Monday, Kyle and Matt had seemed most on their heels. Of all of the teams at Bremen, they asserted themselves the most. Matt had his overheads working, Kyle was returning with power and precision, it was a good day for these Bruins. Except that the Lions #1 doubles, Thomas Manges and Alex Overholser, were a great team too. They wouldn't simply give in.

And so the first set went back and forth. We held a 5-3 lead, then the Lions tied it up. The match moved forward into a first set tiebreak, and we got down early. We pulled back to tie the score at 5, but the Lions won 2 points to win the first tiebreak. In the second set, the scenario repeated itself. Back to another tiebreak and in this tiebreak we got out ahead early only to find ourselves down 6-5 with a match point against us. Matt denied it with a beautiful shot, and we won the next two to take the second set. In the third set, we finally looked in control. We broke big serving Thomas Manges serve and things looked set up for a non-tiebreak victory. But it wasn't to be. Despite having 2 match points against Manges serve, the Lions held and tied it back up at 5-5. After trading tense service games, we went to a third tiebreak! Again, we got ahead early 5-2, only to get tied again at 5-5. Then Kyle hit an excellent return forcing a Manges error, then hit a first serve which drew a return error. We had won the set and the match, winning 2 of the 3 tiebreaks! It was unbelievable!

The JV match had it's unbelievable moments as well. Wade Troyer sacrificed himself for the team, stretching out for a ball and massively skinning up both of his knees, so much that there was skin hanging off. Abe Thorne started out his match down 0-3 before his opponent had to retire because of the rolled ankle Andrew Snyder had forced him into during his first match. Parth Patel gave us our only full win, defeating Bremen's only freshman, Tyler LaFlash, 8-5. It was a fun match, but not one that saw everyone play particularly well. It also dropped the JV record to 5-9.

But it was a day for learning and practicing assertiveness under pressure. And we did it. I was really proud of the guys, as the match gave me a lot of hope. We'll see how we hold up against good competition again this weekend, but this match has to give us confidence. Now we need to keep it going.

Varsity
#1S - Ben Mast - 6-1, 6-0 - Taylor Fanning (12)
#2S - Seth Krabill - 6-2, 6-1 - Briley Bollenbacher (11)
#3S - Nate Brendle - 6-3, 6-2 - Ty Holmes (12)
#1D - Kyle Miller/Matt Ebersole - 6-7 (5), 7-6 (6), 7-6 (5) - Thomas Manges (12)/Alex Overholser (12)
#2D - Russell Klassen/Blake Shetler - 6-1, 7-6 (3) - Austin Huff (11)/Brad Foster (10)

Junior Varsity
#1SJV - Andrew Snyder - 6-8 - Wes Burkholder (10)
#2SJV - Parth Patel - 8-5 - Tyler LaFlash (9)
#3SJV - Abe Thorne - 0-3 ret. (W) - Wes Burkholder
#4SJV - Himal King - 4-8 - Tyler LaFlash
#1DJV - Evan Grimes/Wade Troyer - 2-8 - Nate Strehler (10)/Joe Zeltwanger (10)
#2DJV - Ryan Minter/Joel Gerig - 2-8 - Nate Strehler (10)/Joe Zeltwanger (10)