Climbing Report 17: Sectional vs. Fairfield

Match Report
The end of the season is always hard to write about, because it always means the end of somebody's career. Unless the team is all underclassmen, the Sectional typically means somebody won't play high school tennis again.

But this year was an odd year for us. Though we lost 4-1, nobody is done. Our #1D seniors move on, and our underclassmen get ready for next year. So, in a lot of ways, it felt like a continuation of our climbing theme for the season. The juniors, sophomores, and freshmen keep climbing into the next season... while the seniors climb on to the Individual Sectional.

The match itself was well played but nervy. It took most of our positions a while to relax into the match. As you might guess, the exception to that was our #1D, Dustin and Jonathon. They came out ready to play and after starting the match evenly and on serve, they broke serve at 3-2 and continued to cruise from there. Really, they played a match that any doubles team could be proud of. They rallied well from the baseline and were certainly the team in control of the net. I'm really excited about the way these two have learned to play doubles, especially after thinking all summer that Jonathon would be our #1S player.

One thing that highlighted their match was their energy. Early and often they were talking and encouraging each other. Early and often they were celebrating their big points with exclamations of "Let's go!" The interesting thing is that is not a normal part of Jonathon's personality, but he has learned to have that energy to help him as the season has progressed. That energy just continued to swell as the match went on, and from the 2-2 tie Dustin and Jonathon won 10 of the next 12 games to win 6-3, 6-1.

At all our other positions, we came out playing too nervous. And the first set scores mostly reflected that. #1S and #2S were both 6-0. At #2S and #2D we found ourselves in 5-2 holes before we began to dig out of that. It wasn't that we were playing badly, it was that we were simply tentative with our shots and subdued on our energy.

But at all of the positions, we settled into the match and began to find our shots. At #2S and #2D, we made a push to come back in the first set but ended up losing. But we started the second sets with energy and confidence. In both of these positions, we took second set leads.

At #1S and #3S, we mounted comebacks - but we couldn't get over the hump. While our second sets showed good tennis, we were playing good opponents as well. So we lost those two positions and were down 2-1 in the team match.

So we needed both Jacob at #2S and Jonah and Nathan at #2D. And for a while, it looked like we were going to go three sets in those matches. Jacob was keeping his nose in front in the 2nd set, really doing a great job with his groundstrokes and touch volleys to keep his opponent on the defensive. He held a 4-3 lead in the second set and had several points to push that lead to 5-4 before falling to 4-5.

At #2D, we took the 5-4 lead and had 2 set points to force a third set. Nathan and Jonah were playing exciting tennis, but we couldn't quite seal the final shot. Just like Jacob's match, Fairfield's #2D took two games to take a 6-5 lead.

At both #2 positions, we faced the end of the match and our nerves came back. Jacob flinched a forehand long and Jonah skied a lob. Tense second points led to our shots landing just out. Tight muscles in the face of the end made us miss shots by just a bit. In the end, we lost both matches.

We had showed grit in making our way back into the match. We see our #1D advance. We finish our team season. But we still have our eyes upward.

Climbing Up (A Prayer)
Lord, You have given us a lot of goodness during this season. We have tried to pursue You. We have tried to live out of Your grace. We have tried to love each other. We have moved as close to You as we can. We don't want to let that go. We are still messes of emotions, fears, joys and more. Continue to unravel us and make Your love fill our hearts! Thanks!

Scores
#1S - Liam Bradford - 0-6, 2-6 - Aaron Streit (11)
#2S - Jacob Woolace - 4-6, 4-6 - Eric Gaby (
#3S - Braden Bohn - 0-6, 2-6 - Dylan Kaufman (12)
#1D - Dustin Miller/Jonathon Yousey - 6-3, 6-1 - Andrew Mamone (12)/Tanner Nunemaker (11)
#2D - Jonah Farran/Nathan Oostland - 3-6, 5-7 - Jarin Bontrager (12)/Ben Toole (11)