#15 - Always Focus

Our team cheer is pretty simple:

Always focus. Always battle.

But like many rituals, they don't become meaningful unless you live it. Tonight, against Bremen, we didn't live the cheer. Tonight, we couldn't focus on a cold, blustery night. Tonight, we couldn't battle against the the wind. Tonight, we couldn't focus after a heartbreaker to Fairfield. Tonight, we couldn't battle against ourselves.

In many ways, this is disappointing. But only if it's the end of the story. Perhaps tonight was just about the knowledge that we must always focus and always battle, with no excuses or other copouts.

Notes & Stats
- Nathan Brendle came away with another impressive scoreline in this match. He's continued to dominate opponents, and got another "6-0" set. His focused play (at #1S nonetheless!) should be a great example and motivation for his teammates.

- Ike made a switch to #3 singles today, and Abe went up to #2 singles. The switch wasn't all that successful tonight, with neither player able to secure victory. Ike pushed it to 3 sets, but couldn't find quite the finishing shots.

- The JV won another match, giving them 5 wins in their last 6 matches. They are now at 6-8 on the season.

- Sol Brenneman continues to lead the way with JV wins, but Tristan Clark played a really great, mentally strong match tonight. After leading 5-0, he saw his opponent come back and make the match close, within one game. But Tristan fought through to the end, keeping his cool and claiming the victory.

- Wade Troyer has continued to inch his way to the top of the all-time JV wins list. He now has 26 JV wins in his career. Matt Amstutz holds the career record with 30. Unfortunately for Wade, he'll end with 26 because this was our last official JV match.

Scores
Varsity
#1S - Nathan Brendle - 6-0, 6-3 - Brad Foster (12)
#2S - Abe Thorne - 2-6, 4-6 - Jalen Bayer (12)
#3S - Ike Lehman - 2-6, 7-6 (5), 3-6 - Wes Burkholder (12)
#1D - Himal King/Parth Patel - 1-6, 2-6 - Nate Strehler (12)/Bryce DeVine (9)
#2D - Joel Gerig/Hans Miller - 1-6, 3-6 - Krent Hueni (11)/Tommy Foster (10)

JV
#1SJV - Sol Brenneman - 8-2 - Tyler LaFlash (11)
#2SJV - Tristan Clark - 8-6 - ???
#3SJV - Justin Zehr - 6-8 - Tyler LaFlash (11)
#1DJV - Wade Troyer/Landon Weldy - 8-2 - ???
#2DJV - Neel Bhagat/Ethan Lapp - 4-8 - ???