Concord Invite Preview

Details: Saturday, August 20, 9:00 AM at Concord High School.

Last Season Review: Last year the Bruins were the champions of the Concord Invite, defeating Jimtown and Rochester 5-0, and Concord 4-1.

3 Interesting Facts:
- In the years since this tourney started, last year was the only year Concord had not won.
- This is the only tournament that remains unchanged on our schedule since Matt started coaching. Other tournaments that have come and gone: the Lakeland Invite, the LaVille Invite, the Warsaw Invite, and the Wayne Invite. Of course, we've added the Merrillville Invite and the Wabash Invite over the past 3 years, giving us a strong and fun schedule.
- Of the three teams competing this first weekend of the schedule, we have already played a combined 8 matches. That's alot of first week experience!

Concord Details: The Minutemen should have a strong team this year, especially since they return Jason Denton at #1 singles, one of three opponents Ben lost to last year. They have opened the year at 3-1, defeating Columbia City, John Glenn, Bremen but losing to Elkhart Central.

Jimtown Details: The Jimmies return much of their team from last year. Unfortunately, it wasn't a very successful year for them. However, they have opened the 2011 season with 2 wins, defeating NorthWood and Mishawaka.

Rochester Details:The Rhinos started their season with a 5-0 win, over South Bend Clay. Then they lost 5-0 to Triton yesterday, so I they are also 1-1 on the season.

Bethany Christian Details: We pulled out a close win against Goshen last night, to even our record at 1-1. In both matches, we've some good play and some not quite up to the necessary level. We will continue to work on that throughout the season, and get a chance to test ourselves 3 times. We'll probably mix things up a bit this weekend to see what we can do.

Projected Lineups:
Concord
#1S - Jason Denton (4-0)
#2S - Matt Kotva (2-1)
#3S - Nick Polluck (2-2)
#1D - Matt Ciesielski/Sean Purcell (2-1)
#2D - Bronson DuMont/Jack Hinkle (2-1)

Jimtown
#1S - Brett Aller (2-0)
#2S - Jake Ward (2-0)
#3S - Dan Gongwer (1-1)
#1D - Cole Peterson/Austin Ward (2-0)
#2D - Augie Farwig/Michael Hobbs (2-0)

Rochester
#1S - Aaron Stuart (1-1)
#2S - Taylor Beck (1-1)
#3S - ? (0-1)
#1D - Brant Eytcheson/Alec Gehrich (1-1)
#2D - Justin Schroder/Andy Feldmen (1-1)

Outlook: This should be an interesting tournament. Concord will be a tough matchup, as they are very experienced. However, they are coming off a loss. Jimtown and Rochester are opponents that will again tell us where we are in comparison to other teams on our schedule. Triton won 5-0 over Rochester, and Jimtown has easily beaten NorthWood and Mishawaka, two opponents we are familiar with, who both fielded weaker squads last season. Hopefully we will be able to pull wins out over the Jimmies and the Rhinos, and give the Minutemen everything that we have. We certainly will try to defend our title with confidence!