Merrillville Invite Preview

Details: September 18, 2010 at 10:00 AM (Eastern time). Singles matches are played at Merrillville High School (276 East 68th Place, Merrillville). Doubles matches are at Merrillville Intermediate School (1400 W. 61st Ave, Merrillville).

Last Season Review: This is our first time to Merrillville's tournament.

3 Interesting Facts:
- 2 teams in this tournament are currently in the District Rankings, and Valparaiso is state ranked.
- The tournament is flighted, meaning each position will play within its own tournament and earn team points for their finish (1st - 10 pts, 2nd - 8 pts, 3rd - 7, 4th - 5, 5th - 5, 6th - 3, 7th - 1)
- The doubles and singles are played at separate sites, meaning we won't necessarily know how the rest of the guys are doing.

Opponent Details:
Valparaiso - currently ranked 14th in the state, the Vikings only loss was to state #8 Munster, a 4-1 loss. This team will probably be the stiffest competition in the tournament. In the NW Indiana Times, Valpo comes in as #2 ranked behind Munster in NW Indiana.

Centerville - The Bulldogs are the other district ranked team in this tournament, currently ranked 7th in District 4. They are also the only undefeated team in the tournament.

Highland - Highland finds themselves having a very good tennis season. According to NW Indiana Times' poll, the Trojans are the 4th best in NW Indiana. They have defeated Merrillville (4-1) this season. They have lost to all the district ranked teams they played - Munster, Chesterton and Lafayette Jeff - but then again, so have we.

Merrillville - Merrillville tennis is experiencing a bit of a down season this year. Though always a good tennis program, the Pirates find themselves at 2-8 on the season. They are excellent at #1 singles, junior Leonard Matthews II has not lost this season. But many matches have been 1-4.

Wawasee - Enters today with a 6-6 record. Tuesday they fell to district #7 Warsaw 3-2. They have been beaten by Northridge, Fairfield, Concord, Columbia City and Plymouth. All good teams, but some that we have beaten. In those matches, there strength has been #2 singles - Nathan Brady.

Triton - We know Triton. We defeated them 4-1 without Seth. We should know what to expect, although they have made changes to their lineup since we played them. They have a new #3 singles player and a new player at #2 doubles. They are now 7-4 on the season, defeating Jimtown 3-2 on Wednesday.

Lowell - Comes into this tournament as the most unknown to me. I know very few results. They lost to Munster (but so has everyone) and to Kankakee Valley (who I don't know much about). They finished last in a tournament, with teams I know little about. So significant question marks here.

Bethany Christian Details: We come into this tournament after playing only LaLumiere this week (a 5-0 win). Our record of 12-1 gives us one of the best records in the tournament. So this will be a big test for us.

Outlook: This seems like an awesome opportunity for us. We will need to play our best tennis to place well in this tournament, hopefully that is how we are preparing this week. I expect us to come out and play with passion, like we have something to prove. We were ranked in the District 2 rankings after the first week of the season, but fell out after 1 loss. This is a chance to make a statement about what a good team we are. That should be significant motivation. Plus, we have a chance to bring home another trophy. We want another trophy.