Big Words from Rochester

"TOGETHER"

It's taken me a while to post this. Not because it was a bad match, on the contrary, we continue to improve and play our best tennis. Byeong Min Lim played amazing, despite feeling sick. He continues to show what tennis looks like when you are throughly in control.

Jonathon played one of his best matches of the season. Feeling tired, he decided to just relax and see what happened, and what happened is that he hit some great attacking balls. He was able to put pressure on the Zebra #2S, which paid off with a win.

Lucas didn't play his best, but we have those matches sometimes. It seemed like his opponent was really dialed in for this match, for whatever reason, and was hitting some pretty amazing slices and power shots with consistency.

The best match of the night may have been Brandon and Simon. They faced a team also playing their second year together at #1D, and owning a record of 13-1 on the year. Rochester #1D's only loss was a 5-7, 4-6 defeat in which they actually had held 4-3 leads in each set. So, they were games away from being undefeated. And Brandon and Simon made the match look easy last night.


And let me sing this doubles team praise, just for a bit. Brandon and Simon compliment each other so well. Brandon served excellent in this match, which set Simon up for so many putaways. And that is what Brandon is so good at. He has so many weapons that compliment his partner. If I had to choose someone to play doubles with, I would probably choose Brandon, so I could play Simon's role of smashing everything down :-)

And #2D was playing the same way. They are coming into their own here late in the season. A great win over Fairfield, a great match tonight, especially in the first set where they had everything working. Honestly, when they are serving well they are tough to beat. And they compliment each other well too, Dustin's groundstrokes, Lane's lobs and both of their net play.


I loved watching the JV play today as well. Unfortunately, we didn't get to play too many players from the other team. Jackson played a great match, Daniel flew around the court, and Liam played an opponent who chased down everything. And the rest of our JV played against each other, but it was encouraging to see how much they have improved. Jonah impressed especially as his groundstrokes have become amazingly consistent, Braydon and Chris both showed how well they've improved, and Caleb and Nathan took on Dustin in a practice game, and it was fun watch them compete.

But the thing that makes it hard to write about is that we keep doing the same thing. Getting better. Playing good matches. Making new on the court highlights. I feel like I keep writing the same thing.

So enjoy some pictures. Look at the scores. But the best part of the night was truly the drive to Rochester and back. In the bus, we had great conversation, reminding Bible classes, talking about what is going on in school, whether we'd want to be high school Bible teachers and much more. Being with this team continues to be really fun. Thanks guys!



At the beginning of the season, we made a big deal about purpose. That if your purpose was to win matches, you'd be disappointed at some point this season. If your purpose was to play a certain position on the team, you might be disappointed. If your purpose was to continually get better, your bad days would be really hard. But if your purpose was to be together, with your tennis brothers, then you would be sure to find joy. Nights like this remind me of that. Let's do this, together.

Scores
Varsity
#1S - Byeong Min Lim - 6-0, 6-1 - Jackson Sawyer (12)
#2S - Jonathon Yousey - 6-3, 6-1 - Justin Phoun (11)
#3S - Lucas Brownsberger-Keyes - 3-6, 3-6 - Zac Dishon (12)
#1D - Simon Hurst/Brandon Nguyen - 6-0, 6-1 - Ean Pugh (11)/Austin Utter (11)
#2D - Lane Miller/Dustin Miller - 6-0, 6-3 - Chase Brown (11)/Carlton Mullet (12)

Junior Varsity
#1SJV - Daniel Robles - 8-3 - David Sayger (10)
#2SJV - Jackson King - 8-1 - Andrew Dunwoody (9)
#3SJV - Liam Bradford - 8-6 - Aaron Meiser (9)

Bethany Christian vs. Rochester

Rochester was supposed to return their entire varsity lineup, and with that, this was supposed to be a very close match. But, for reasons unexplained, they did not, and the match did not turn out as close as I thought it might. We won 4-1, and were able to come in 2nd at the Concord Invitational.

#1 doubles had another good match, giving them three close matches in a row. Kyle and Austin did a lot of good things in this match. When they concentrated, focused, and attacked they usually won. I liked the fact that they finished a lot of points at the net. But Rochester's Phil Keim and Cody Hershberger were good players, and when Kyle and Austin relaxed, they pounced. It was interesting to watch a match that was so influenced by the the attitude and focus of the players. Kyle and Austin did a good job of stepping up and winning a close match.

#2 doubles did a similarly good job. Nick and Russell looked like they relaxed a lot from their first match of the day. They were playing with a lot more confidence in what they do. Both have great games from the baseline, and the adjustment that they've been making is finding ways to put pressure on and attack the net. We've been working on volleys and such in practice (when it isn't raining and we're not playing Ultimate Frisbee). It was good to see the work start to pay off. Of course, we keep working and we hope to keep getting better. But this was a nice step in the right direction.

In the #3 singles match, Misha Rebec stepped in to fill Mikey's shoes. Unfortunately, his first foray into varsity singles didn't turn out quite as well as brother Nick's did against Goshen. He played a great match against sophomore Jacob Schoeder, but couldn't quite overcome him. It was a match that was strength against strength, as both Misha and Jacob hit big forehands. Unfortunately, both players also struggled with backhands. Pretty much, neither player could hold their serves, because both players would hit away at their forehands and take control of the point. It was extremely close all the way through, but Misha fell 6-7 (5), 4-6.

#1 singles and #2 singles were similar matches to each other. Ben Mast took on Ryan Bohr, while Seth played against Aaron Stuart. In both matches, the consistency and well crafted attacks of the Bruin players were too much for the Zebras to hit with. The Zebra singles players had great strokes and stayed in many rallies, but if Ben and Seth extended the rallies beyond 15 or so strokes, Bohr and Stuart were susceptible to errant forehands or backhands. And if Ben and Seth took their time and hit good approaches, the Zebras struggled with consistent passing shots under pressure.

In summation, this was a good match in which our players played very loose. It had the feel of last year's Sectional final, where the team had played one tight match in the morning against Fairfield, then loosened up for the final. Today, our tight match was against Jimtown, and when we relaxed against Rochester, we played very well. I was more pleased with the way players played, and that the result came as well was a nice bonus. So we move to 5-2 on the season with two matches to start this coming week!


And a moment of beauty... we played some really good tennis in this match. It was tough to pick a point that stood out above the rest. What I'd have to say is that Nick's net putaways were the highlight of this match. Every time I saw him move in and take a slow ball and finish the point, it brought a smile to my face. It happened more than once, so picking one of these points would be a little ridiculous. It was good to see Nick aggressive and punishing at the net.

Scores

#1S - Ben Mast - 6-2, 6-2 - Ryan Bohr
#2S - Seth Krabill - 6-1, 6-1 - Aaron Stuart
#3S - Misha Rebec - 6-7 (5), 4-6 - Jacob Schroder
#1D - Kyle Miller/Austin Loucks - 6-3, 6-4 - Phil Keim/Cody Hershberger
#2D - Russell Klassen/Nick Rebec - 6-2, 6-1 - Kyle Calhoun/Josh Calhoun

Concord Invitational Preview

Here's a brief look at the teams in the Concord Invitational. It will be a tough invitational this year, as we are the least experienced team taking part.

Concord Details: 2-0 on the season. Defeated John Glenn (5-0) and Elkhart Central (5-0). Return five varsity players from a team that was state ranked at one point last season. Definitely the heavy favorites in this tournament on their home courts.

Jimtown Details: 2-0 on the season. Defeated NorthWood (5-0) and Mishawaka (5-0). Return four varsity players from last year's conference champions. All three singles players return. Haven't had the most difficult opposition yet this season, but should provide a stiff test for us tomorrow.

Rochester Details: 1-1 on the season. Defeated South Bend Clay (3-2) and lost to Triton (1-4). Had no upperclassmen on last year's team but it seems that their #1S from last year has yet to play in a match. Most other players return however. Will be interesting to see how we react to their experience.

Bethany Christian Details: 1-1 on the season. Lost to Northridge (1-4) and defeated Goshen (5-0). Return one player from varsity competition last year. Two different lineups in two different matchups with two different results. What's up for Saturday? Who knows. One thing though, we will try to continue the confident and energetic tennis we played against Goshen this weekend, and hope to continue improving.

Wednesday Opponent Overview: Rochester

Last Season Review
I must admit that I don't know that much about the course of the Zebras' season last year, as we only crossed that path twice last year, once at the varsity level and once against the JV. They were certainly a young team last year, having graduated many of their upper level talent the year before. When they played Tippecanoe Valley, a match they won 5-0, there was only one senior on either side of the court, and he wasn't a Zebra. They were eliminated in the first round of a difficult Sectional (won every single year by Culver Academies), but they were actually defeated 3-2 by Knox. In that match they captured both doubles, but lost in three sets at #2 and #3 singles. These signs of inexperience will occur less in the upcoming seasons, but the past season was definitely one to build on for the Zebras.

Returning Varsity Players
Max Hsu - A small, quick player with beautifully arched topspin groundstrokes, Hsu reminds me a lot of Luke Hostetter as a sophomore. But their is a difference. When you watch Hsu's matches you admire the way he hits the ball, but he doesn't win a lot of points, and you can't figure out why. With Luke, he seemed to will his way to victories without much more. I think that there is a certain determination that cannot be measured in the way the game looks be can be felt in the momentum of a point. In Hsu can add this intangible, he could be on his way to a very solid career.

Ryan Bohr - The elder statesman of this team as a junior, Bohr will be the only senior on the roster next season. Of the singles players, he was the only one not to lose 6-0, 6-0 when we played them, so credit is due there. However, there was no defining element to his game that made you believe he was going to win points. Against Jared it seemed like he was just hanging on. He'll need to develop some go-to weapons or consistent strokes to force his way to wins next season.

Travis Wottring - A freshman, Wottring played #2 doubles in the Concord Invitational, losing 6-0, 6-2 to Daniel and Ben Mast. Throughout the season, he became a solid #3 singles player for the Zebras, and in the final match of the year, the first round of Sectionals came down to his match. With everything on the line, he took a 3-2 lead, only to lose the next 3 games and find himself in a 5-3 hole. He went on to lose the match and Knox advanced to the Sectional final. These kind of learning experiences are painful and valuable. Not much more could have been expected from a freshman, but now Wottring will have experience on his side in future tight matches. I believe he had a brother spend several years as the Zebras #1 singles player, so he might have the motivation to work and catch up with his brother's pedigree.

Cameron Screeton/Cody Hershberger - These guys gave Jeremy and Mikey a good set, and then kind of fell off in the second set, maybe due to frustration or unbelief. They are certainly solid players, and Screeton now has two years of varsity experience under his belt, as only a sophomore. In the Sectional match against Knox they were able to pull through for the Zebras. In our match against them, it was easy to see that Mikey and Jeremy were the aggressors. That was due in part to our emphasis on getting forward, but I think that they were also comfortable laying back. It will be interesting to see if this tendency changes as the team moves forward.

Jacob Schroder/Aaron Stuart - I can honestly say I remember very little about either of these players. Jacob Schroder actually played #3 singles against us, and Jonny defeated him 6-0, 6-0. Jonny actually played quite well in that match, I remember him being able to get forward as Schroder was decently consistent but lacked the power to pass. Stuart I remember less, as he partnered Wottring in a 6-0, 6-2 loss to Daniel and Ben Mast.

Other Possible Varsity Contributors
I would expect their varsity to remain the same, due to losing no graduating seniors but...
Phil Keim - lost to Ben Mast, 1-6, 0-6
Kyle Calhoun - lost to Seth Krabill, 0-6, 1-6
Josh Calhoun - lost to Kyle Miller, 1-6, 2-6

Outlook
Well, we've seen what a team that returns all seven varsity players can do (us this past year). I think that Rochester is moving in the right direction behind a great coach, but being mostly freshman and sophomores this past season, I think their aim will be a bit lower than a Sectional title next year. If they continue to make improvements, I think this will prove to be a good but not great season for them. The promise is in place though, for them to have several successful seasons in a row. It is certainly a match I will look forward to playing.

Blessing
We continue to pray that God will bless this team in many ways throughout this year.

Rochester Match Report

To start the Concord Invite, we drew against the most inexperienced team in the draw, the Rochester Zebras. Last season we had defeated the Zebras 4-1, and they had lost their top two players. With our team returning everyone, we expected to have a similar result this year.

The Rochester squad is very young and has good talent. They hit the ball well, but it seems that they can't quite finish points and games off. We got off to a good start at every position, taking large leads at every position except number one doubles, where we were still resting senior captain Johnny Kauffman.

At number one singles, Luke Hostetter cruised through a two set match finding heart-breaking winner after heart-breaking winner against Rochester sophomore Max Hsu. Max had faced Jonny Shenk in last years tournament and suffered a similar fate. Though much improved, he couldn't seem to find an answer for Luke's attacking style in this match. What impressed me most was Luke's ability to win points in a variety of ways, a key for him when he is playing well. A point to illustrate this was when Luke and Hsu were both at the net. In the Goshen match, Luke had pounded a low shot at Mac Hussey forcing an error from a similar position, while today Luke popped a lob over Hsu's head landing just inside the baseline.

At two singles, Jared Schwartzentruber started the day off with a beauty of a match. Jumping out to a 3-0 lead, Jared piled on the pressure and let Ryan Bohr make most of the mistakes. But the part that was nice to see for me was the well-timed attacks of the net and the smart shots played once Jared got there. At one point, Jared looked to have a tough overhead very close to the net, and instead of going for power and intimidation Jared opted for touch and placement, slicing a ball softly to the other side of the court where Bohr could not reach.

Jonny Shenk dominated from start to finish in his match against varsity newcomer Jacob Schroder. Jonny hit the ball very well throughout the match despite the frustrating reality that he wasn't going to get to play very many long points. After several strokes Schroder's groundstrokes often failed him and he gave Jonny many free points off of errors. It was a good match however to warm up Jonny's swing for the rest of the day. The entire match was completed in 35 minutes.

In the doubles, the two doubles pair of Ben Mast and Daniel Buschert continued the good start to the season that position has had. They quickly took the first set 6-0, and then stepped off the gas a bit in the second to allow 2 games for the Zebra freshmen Travis Wottring and Aaron Stuart. Especially impressive was the net game of Mast, according to teammate Seth Krabill, "I forget what a good volleyer Ben is." Maybe this is because this was Ben's first doubles match at the varsity level.

One doubles was a bit closer in the first set but never really in doubt. Mikey Kelly and Jeremy Thomas played a similar first set to the one that they had played against Goshen on Thursday. Feeling a little bit tight because of the closeness of the match, they were able to relax after taking a 4-3 lead in the set, and cruised to close out the set 6-1, and then take the second set 6-1.


Dual moment of beauty for this match. Jeremy and Daniel both win for the same shot hit simultaneously in the course of their matches. Jeremy set the winning shot up with a backhand a first overhead and then finally a finishing overhead, while Daniel's overhead winner was set up by a deep groundstroke by teammate Ben Mast. At precisely the same time however, Jeremy crushed his overhead down into the court and then up over the fence and Daniel used his strength to do exactly the same. It was a sweet statement on our attacking ability during this match.

Scores

Luke Hostetter - 6-0, 6-0 - Max Hsu (10)
Jared Schwartzentruber - 6-2, 6-0 - Ryan Bohr (11)
Jonny Shenk - 6-0, 6-0 - Jacob Schroder (9)
Jeremy Thomas/Mikey Kelly - 6-4, 6-1 - Cameron Screeton (10)/Cody Hershberger (10)
Daniel Buschert/Ben Mast - 6-0, 6-2 - Travis Wottring (9)/Aaron Stuart (9)

Bethany Christian vs. Rochester {Match Report}

First win of the season, and we deserved one with the good tennis we had played, both in the matches before this one and in the Rochester match itself. A 4-1 victory was very pleasing to me, especially because it guaranteed we wouldn't finish last in this round-robin tournament!

Not only did this provide us our first win, it was also the first time this season that we have had no three set matches. Luke was able to find his game much earlier against the lefty Mason Heyde, who had come back for Rochester after not playing for a year. The senior didn't have the pace of shot as the Jimtown's Jake Smith, but still played with the same desire to attack. His length gave Luke a bit of a problem on passing shots, but Luke was able to grind out a groundstroking, free-smiling win.

Jonny Shenk collected his second victory of the day as well, consistently overwhelming Rochester freshman Max Hsu. Although Hsu had some beautiful strokes from the baseline, he persisted in trying to attack Jonny. Some well placed lobs over the short-statured freshman left Jonny with an easy win.

Jared found himself against a tough opponent in Rochester senior Nate Wottring. Wottring had competed last season at the number one singles position. His experience and varied attack left Jared with few answers. It's amazing what seasoning a season at #1 will give a player!

The doubles dominated this match throughout, rarely feeling threatened. This was due to the inexperience of the Rochester teams (3 sophomores, 1 freshman) but also to the attacking ability of our players, who seemed to keep the Zebras on their back-heels for much of the matches.

I loved to see our hard work paid off with a win in this match. We were the more-talented team, and I was glad to see that reflected in the scoreline. Disappointments were hard to find, with the one loss coming to a player who is extremely talented for the position he is playing. Good to get the first of many under our belts and move on to what was our biggest challenge on the day - Concord.

Scores
------------------------------
Bethany --- Score --- Rochester

#1S - Luke Hostetter (11) --- 6-1, 6-3 --- Mason Heyde (12)
#2S - Jared Schwartzentruber (11) --- 1-6, 1-6 --- Nate Wottring (12)
#3S - Jonny Shenk (11) --- 6-1, 6-0 --- Max Hsu (9)
#1D - Johnny Kauffman (11)/Jeremy Thomas (11) --- 6-0, 6-2 --- Ryan Bohr (10)/Trent Jameson (10)
#2D - Daniel Buschert (11)/Mikey Kelly (10) --- 6-0, 6-3 --- Cameron Sckeeton (9)/Kyle Calhoun (10)

Bethany Christian at Concord Invitational {Preview}

For the fifth straight year we enter into the first weekend of the season by attending the Concord Invitational. While providing several difficult opponents (Bethany has never defeated either Jimtown or Concord in this tournament) this tournament gives the Bruins a chance to test their early season skills and lineups. Jimtown is also a sectional opponent, which makes that match very telling for later in the season. Many Bethany players hail from the Concord school district as well, which makes it a challenge to play against their friends and acquaintances from elementary school, church, etc.

Last the Bruins defeated Rochester, 4-1, and fell to Jimtown and Concord 1-4. Luke Hostetter was able to pull out two victories from the tournament, defeating Jimtown and Rochester, as did our number one doubles pair of Johnny Kauffman and Jordan Kauffman. The doubles beat Rochester and Concord, the latter in a tense third set tiebreaker.

This season the Bruins return several varsity players from last year. However, the other teams this weekend return a number as well. Jimtown returns all 7 varsity players last year, and may be a favorite to win our Sectional this year. They defeated Northwood on Tuesday by a score of 3-2, winning both doubles and at two singles. Concord returns 4 varsity players, and are also coming off a Tuesday win, a 5-0 thumping of West Noble. Rochester returns only 3 varsity contributors, but one of those is number one singles player Nate Wottring, who fell last year in three sets to Luke Hostetter.

From the coach's vantage point, this tournament is one that gives us another marker as to where our program is in its building process. Like Northridge, this is not a match that defines where we are at, it is a match that defines where we are going. The goal of the Bethany Christian program is to get to a point where we consistently compete to win this tournament. Each year we arrive at this weekend and see how close we are to that goal. There is no doubt it is a building process, but just like Tuesday at Northridge, we are closing the talent gap.

We will see if we've closed it farther this weekend. Concord returns all of their singles players from last year, all of whom defeated ours. This provides a difficult challenge in terms of winning, but we have also put in time and effort during the offseason. The question that looms is: Have we made up ground?

Concord Info:
Returning Varsity (3)
- Austin Conrad defeated Luke Hostetter, 6-3, 6-0
- Andre Ziebold defeated Wes Klassen, 4-6, 6-4, 10-7
- Jake Bontrager defeated Jared Schwartzentruber, 6-4, 6-3

Probable Lineup
#1S - Austin Conrad
#2S - Cameron Tomassbi
#3S - Andre Ziebold
#1D - Andre Moore/Matthew Schoeffler
#2D - Jared Queener/Trevor DuMont

Jimtown Info:
Returning Varsity (7)
- Mike Landis lost to Luke Hostetter, 6-3, 6-1
- J.J. DuBois defeated Wes Klassen, 7-6(8), 6-2
- Lance Miller lost to Jared Schwartzentruber, 6-2, 6-4
- Chris Landis/Duke Johnson defeated Jordan Kauffman/Johnny Kauffman, 6-3, 6-3
- Aaron Blume/Collin Boyll defeated Jordan Miller/Jeremy Thomas, 6-4, 6-2

Probable Lineup
#1S - Jake Smith
#2S - J.J. DuBois
#3S - Aaron Blume
#1D - Chris Landis/Mike Landis
#2D - Duke Johnson/Tyler Wallin

Rochester Info:
Returning Varsity (3)
- Nate Wottring lost to Luke Hostetter, 7-5, 6-3
- Ryan Bohr / Trent Jameson lost to Jordan Miller / Jeremy Thomas, 6-3, 6-1

Probable Lineup
#1S - Nate Wottring
#2S - ?????
#3S - ?????
#1D - Ryan Bohr/Trent Jameson
#2D - ?????