BC v. Tippecanoe Valley

The regular season came to a close last night with both Bruin squads getting victories. The varsity won the match 5-0 and the JV closed out two doubles matches to make it a clean sweep.

At the varsity level, none of the matches were particularly close. At #1 singles, Ben Mast faced a sophomore, Nick Kindig, who had only lost 4 times on the season. Kindig won the first game with some blistering passing shots, and continued to hold serve to take a 2-1 lead. But then the consistent attacking quality of Ben's game got to him, and Ben won 11 straight games for a 6-2, 6-0 win. Playing at the most difficult position on the team, Ben has now won 15 "6-0" sets on the year. Nice!

At #2 singles, Seth Krabill grabbed two "6-0" sets in a win over senior Austin Nelson. The match never was in doubt as Seth's returning and groundstroking ability simply overwhelmed Nelson. The same could be said of Nate Brendle's match, when he was able to find the stroke. Nate lost the first game to junior Alex Newman before running off 6 straight games. Then he went down 1-3 in the second before rediscovered his stroke and "repeating successful patterns." He won 5 straight games then to take the second.

At #1 and #2 doubles, both teams found themselves matched against weaker opponents. Both positions took the first sets relatively easy, fighting to stay focus and active. In the second sets, the Vikings picked up their play and were able to win some games while we struggled to stay aggressive and attentive. But in the end, Matt and Kyle's serves and volleys were too much and Russell and Blake's relentless crosscourt, down-the-line, volley, overhead pattern also won the day for the Bruins.

The JV doubles matches were a lot of fun. Parth Patel and Evan Grimes teamed up for the first time this year and it was Parth's first time playing doubles since the beginning of the season. Parth began nervous, but soon both he and Evan were enjoying playing together. Parth hit good overheads and Evan served quite well. I thought that Evan looked particularly impressive in this match.

I thought the same of Abe Thorne at #2 doubles. Abe really got his serve going tonight and took advantage of the openings that were given to him by the Vikings. Wade Troyer continued to patrol the net, as he has been prone to do when playing doubles. Wade Troyer also took home an important award as he and Abe won tonight, which was Wade become the JV player with the most wins this season, getting a total of 11 wins (10 JV and 1 varsity).

It was a good night, ending with pizza and then Night Out videos. I'm sad to see the JV season come to an end, but this was a good note to end on. The guys are all improving and I can't wait to see what lessons and open courts will do for them in the following year. I'm excited about all of that. And for tonight, a win for the JV, another record for the varsity, as we now have the most wins in school history (17).

Varsity
#1S - Ben Mast - 6-2, 6-0 - Nick Kindig (10)
#2S - Seth Krabill - 6-0, 6-0 - Austin Nelson (12)
#3S - Nate Brendle - 6-1, 6-3 - Alex Newman (11)
#1D - Kyle Miller/Matt Ebersole - 6-0, 6-1 - Kameron Larimer (11)/Tanner Neely (9)
#2D - Russell Klassen/Blake Shetler - 6-0, 6-2 - Clayton Adamson (10)/Robbie Groom (9)

Junior Varsity
#1DJV - Evan Grimes/Parth Patel - 8-3 - Austin Murphy (12)/Seth Fincher (12)
#2DJV - Abe Thorne/Wade Troyer - 8-5 - Kyle Alexander (11)/Trey Peterson (9)