The Story at the Jimtown JV Invite

The Lead: "Good Days"
We placed third in the tournament, lost two super close 3-2 matches (matching the varsity's 3-2 losses from the previous week :-), but... it was a good day.

First of all, nobody ended up with a losing record on the day. We had a couple of guys end up at 1-1 on the day, but everybody else went 2-1. Nobody who played failed to get a win.

Secondly, we learned a lot of things. We learned how to use our strengths, we learned that we can win close matches, we learned how to play good opponents. We learned that all we can control is what we can do. We learned new mental strategies ("Laugh win you lose!") We learned tennis strategy as well, where to serve from, where to play the net, where the safe and risky shots are, how important moving our feet is, etc.

Thirdly, we had fun. More and more as the day went on. In fact, the last match of the day was our toughest, but definitely our most fun. There was Wade, leading an upset of Concord at #1 doubles, skipping across the net. There was "Little T" (Tristan Clark) going for every volley at the net, missing some, and Justin Zehr sweeping them up behind. There was Sol, Landon, and Ryan playing their best matches of the year in defeat.

But it wasn't just the end of the day either. Ryan and Landon ran off 9 straight games to win their second round match. Sol and Jesse continued our team tradition of tiebreaks this year, winning one in the first and one in the second round. We won 5 out of 6 doubles matches on the day.

All in all, it was a great day!

The Hidden Narrative
One player finished the day undefeated. That one player was Justin Zehr. He played in two of the matches, and won both of them playing #2 doubles JV. His strokes have continued to improve since last year and he showed a real talent at covering for his partner in doubles.

It was good to see him succeed today, especially in the second round against Concord. In a match we may not have been expected to win, he and Tristan Clark jumped all over the Minutemen in the first set, taking a big lead from the beginning (3-0) and never looking back. In the second set, when things got tight, the Bruins were able to finish the match off on Justin's serve to prevent further tiebreaks.

Other Storylines
- Sol Brenneman picked up 2 more wins today, as did Hans Miller. That leaves both of them tied for top JV wins this season.

- The JV is now 4-0 in tiebreaks this year, picking up two more today. Amazingly, 2 of these tiebreaks have come in matches that helped us win the match. However, neither of those were today.

- In our continual "Freshman Watch," I like to track how well our freshman do against other in their same class. Today, we lost only one match against fellow freshman, with Hans Miller and Jesse Amstutz falling to Jimtown's #1 JV doubles.

- We also played a number of opponents today who have had varsity experience. Justin Schroder and Andy Feldman often play #2D for Rochester. Jacob Gongwer and Nicolas Floyd have played some varsity for Jimtown. Ryan Bishop has played 1 varsity match for Concord. We went 3-2 in these matches.

- We went 5-1 in doubles matches today. Went went 4-5 in singles matches. Perhaps it's the singles we need a little more help in!

The Scores
vs. Rochester
#1SJV - Jesse Amstutz - 6-2, 7-6 (6) - Justin Schroder (9)
#2SJV - Sol Brenneman - 6-3, 6-2 - Andy Feldman (9)
#3SJV - Landon Weldy - 6-3, 6-1 - Alex Denny (10)
#1DJV - Wade Troyer/Hans Miller - 6-0, 7-6 (2) - Dannell Albright (10)/Michael Kistler (9)
#2DJV - Justin Zehr/Tristan Clark - 6-0, 6-1 - Wes Gohn (9)/Connor Ulerick (9)

vs. Jimtown
#1SJV - Wade Troyer - 4-6, 0-6 - Jacob Gongwer (10)
#2SJV - Sol Brenneman - 6-2, 2-6, (12-10) - Darin Martin (9)
#3SJV - Tristan Clark - 3-6, 1-6 - Justin Newland (10)
#1DJV - Jesse Amstuz/Hans Miller - 5-7, 3-6 - Nicolas Floyd (9)/Mikey Pawlak (9)
#2DJV - Landon Weldy/Ryan Duckworth - 6-3, 6-0 - Nick Beron (10)/Brock Johnson (9)

vs. Concord
#1SJV - Sol Brenneman - 0-6, 1-6 - Jake Boyer (10)
#2SJV - Landon Weldy - 2-6, 2-6 - Jared Searer (10)
#3SJV - Ryan Duckworth - 2-6, 0-6 - Mitchell Lozier
#1DJV - Wade Troyer/Hans Miller - 6-3, 6-1 - Ryan Bishop (12)/Aaron Aller (9)
#2DJV - Justin Zehr/Tristan Clark - 6-2, 6-4 - Justin Ramsey (9)/Spenser Jacnichen (10)