What We Really Enjoyed 7: South Bend Washington

Enjoy Some Highlights! 

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What Happened in the Varsity Match?

On a strange night, the Bruins were able to sweep a 5-0 victory at the South Bend Washington courts. The weather threatened the whole night, as it has much of this season. There have already been 4 nights where we have warmed up and then gotten rained on. For 3 of those matches we've had to reschedule. Tonight looked like it was going to be another. Just as we were spinning rackets and getting started, the rain opened up and sent us scrambling to the bus. 

For 15 minutes, it misted and dripped and blew with a cold rain. Then the rain stopped and a rainbow came out... (thanks to Ian for the picture :-)

Luckily, the courts at Washington dried up quickly, and about 45 minutes after our warmup, we went back out to the courts and got our matches underway.

The matches themselves didn't have the most amazing points. Washington is a young team, learning and enjoying a new sport for most of them. 

I really loved our serves in this match. The nets at the courts seemed a little bit higher than we've been used to, and it meant that we needed to shape our serves a little bit more. I loved to see each of the players warming up and getting used to the serve. It meant that we got a bit more safety on our serve, and I hope that piece of tonight carries over into future matches as well. 

There were some remarkable achievements in the match, but overall we were able to fairly quickly win our matches. We won 5-0, and each of our individual positions had 6-0, 6-0 wins. 

Probably the closest match was Ian's. Ian's opponent really had the #3S game down, moving quickly and pushing the ball back into the court. This gave Ian the opportunity to move as well... and find a way to the net. I loved a couple of Ian's volleys, one particular backhand one that made the reel :-)

Noah also had some longer points, including a couple that moved him forward and backward in the point. One thing I've noticed about our team this year is our reluctance to "break the baseline." Often we just lean forward instead of moving in. Noah got the chance to move, and did a great job moving his feet forward. 

The other two matches had some weirdnesses to them, but I appreciated this team so much. So, a 5-0 victory for the Bruins!

What Happened in the JV Match?

Unfortunately, there was no JV match tonight.

What Were the Moments of Joy?
These are going to be moments that I saw in the match that were fun, beautiful and memorable! Again, just from what I happened to see :-)

Golden Match

We had a couple of amazing records in this match. Probably most amazing is that Noah played what is called in tennis a "golden match." A golden set is when you win a set without dropping any points. In other words, when you win 24 points in a row. It's extremely rare because usually someone who is achieving that will recognize that, get nervous, and double fault (which is what I did my senior year of high school when I got close to "golden.") But Noah was able to keep up the golden moments, for 48 straight points. It was remarkable, because Noah's opponent was certainly not giving the points away easily. Noah had to scramble and move to accomplish this rare and pretty cool feat. Congrats Noah!

Awesome Points

In the #1D match, there were not many extended rallies. But there was one point that was special and really made the match feel good. After Tristan made a return, the four competitors got into a volley rally near the net. The ball pinged back and forth, much like a drill that we do in practice called "Two Ball." Each of the four players had a chance to hit at least one volley, but the nature of the volley battle was just enjoyable to watch :-)

What Were the Moments of Encouragement?
This segment is where I'll highlight ways that we built each other up during the match or the lead up to it.

Respect

This was not a match was intensity and close scores. But I loved how much respect our players were able to extend. Though the matches weren't maybe filled with the drama that makes tennis exciting, our players didn't get silly or loud or all the things that can happen in these matches. Instead, we remained helpful and as focused as we could be. I appreciated the Washington players as well, who were very complimentary and eager to learn and improve. I really appreciated the way the Washington players encouraged each other as well, helping each other learn and get better before and after the match. 

Let's Take a Moment of Intention

This is a space where I will offer a short prayer for the team.

Lord, thanks for sending the rainbow and clearing away the clouds. I often notice in my life that You clear things up at the precise moment that I need it most. Thanks for Your presence in all things, we are grateful to get to share these beautiful moments on this beautiful earth together. Amen.

Scores

Varsity

#1S - Noah Schrock - 6-0, 6-1 - Eric Bailey (10)

#2S - Gideon Miller - 6-0, 6-0 - Sam Strong (10)

#3S - Ian McHugh - 6-0, 6-0 - Robert Cerradine (10)

#1D - Tristan Mast/Justin Hochstedler - 6-0, 6-0 - Daniel Njoroge (12)/Kalub Klute (10)

#2D - Emerson Landis/Adam Siemens Rhodes - Won by Default