Columbia City Preview

Details: Tuesday, August 23, 4:45 at Bethany Christian High School

Last Season Review: We lost to Columbia City last year, 3-2 in a super close match, both doubles matches especially. The Eagles were 1 of only 2 teams that we lost to last season.

3 Interesting Facts:
- Both teams lost 5 of their 7 varsity players from last year.
- This is only the second time our teams have met, so we're looking to even our record against the Eagles.
- There should be a rematch from last year, when Derek Hinen and Nate Brendle met at #3 singles. This year the matchup will take place at #1 singles. Last year, Hinen won in 2 sets.

Columbia City Details: The Eagles are off to a 2-1 start to the season. They blanked Churubusco and took a 3-2 victory over Warsaw, while falling 4-1 to the Concord Minutemen.

Bethany Christian Details: The Bruins are 3-2 on the young season, coming off a successful but tough day at the Concord Invite where we finished 2nd.

Projected Columbia City Lineup:
#1S: Derek Hinen (2-1)
#2S: Gabe Boles (3-0)
#3S: Devin Moore (1-2)
#1D: Ryan Flauding/Dalton VanHouten (1-2)
#2D: Matt Rethlake/Brandon Bay (1-2)

Outlook: I expect this match to be very close. Columbia City lost to Concord 4-1, winning #2 singles. We lost 5-0 to Concord, but our singles scores were much closer at #1 and #3 singles. They were closer at the doubles positions, but Concord played very different lineups in each match. All in all, you've got two teams that are young and inexperienced coming off of fantastic years last year. I'm hoping that we are up for this match as a chance to prove ourselves and how hard we've worked, both in the offseason, in practice, and in learning from our match experience so far this year. Predicting a result is difficult, but I'm sure this could be a 3-2 one way or another. Every position will be close, so I'm excited because these are the matches that are fun and the ones that are memorable!