Scrimmage Report - at Angola

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Varsity

We return a good number of players to our varsity this year, bringing back our 3 singles players plus Breece from doubles. And so entering this scrimmage, I was very interested in how our new varsity players would perform. Playing an unfamiliar opponent, especially on the road, is a challenge for each new class of tennis players.

We also got stuck in traffic, and so our warmup time was cut short (by me :-) I wanted to get going before it got too late, so we started before we'd fully gotten through warmups. And that rust showed in the first segment in many matches. Breece and Gid lost the first two games, Noah had a never ending deuce, Cam dropped the first.

But the segment is thirty minutes long and by the end of that time we were starting to roll. Oscar and Noah had reeled off a full first set in the first couple of minutes. Breece and Gid won 4 straight and were really fired up. Tristan and Ian had held on to a lead.

This new, loose energy continued through the rest of the night for the varsity. We didn't play perfect, but we played with confidence and belief. Mistakes were let go of, in favor of coming back on the next point with good footwork or a good serve. People were open to learning, trying, encouraging, moving. Our good play showed through on the scoreboard as well. After the slow start, we didn't really have another close match in the varsity segments. It was really fun to see good tennis early in the season. It gives us a great place to start growing from. 

JV Recap

The story of the JV segments is really about the same as the varsity. We had slow starts from Justin, Adam, Emerson, and Elliot. But they pulled through and turned the tide of their first matches. Then they kept that momentum up all the way through. I was pumped to see the consistency of the JV guys, the movement, and the energy. Our singles players won most off their ability to continually keep balls in the court and move opponents from side to side. Even our serves, which looked in doubt early in the practice season, were able to win us points. 

But I loved the developing confidence of our players. We've got two sides of our JV right now, a number of juniors and sophomores with a lot of experience, then others with very little experience, some who are basically brand new. They are working together, encouraging each other and pushing each other. It was fun to see that every JV player won at least 2 segments last night!

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 :-)

Oscar's Amazing Point Construction

Oscar was completely in control of his matches tonight. Despite having to adjust to a new racket, he worked points side to side and was excellent at stepping up and not letting the ball fall too low to attack. Numerous times he moved his opponent into difficult situations and then finished into the open court. One of the best examples of this is actually captured in the Instagram Reel, where Oscar finished with an inside-out forehand to the short cross court. Excellent shots!

The Doubles 1-2 from Justin and Keagan

This is my favorite doubles play, going all the way back to when I used to play doubles in college. The server (in this case Justin), hits a big serve that draws his opponent into an awkward position. Justin slammed a wide spinning serve that made the returner stretch to his forehand. He could barely get a racket on it and flipped it up as a timid, defensive lob. Keagan cleanly stepped underneath the lob, kept his concentration, and calmly blasted a winning overhead. Short, sweet, simple!

Elliot's Controlled Singles Play

Elliot really impressed me with his ability to move and control the ball. There was no blasting of balls long or swinging as hard as he could. Instead there was great footwork, stepping around to hit forehands, and finding the court over and over again. He'd even move his opponents forward and back. It was joyful to see such a controlled and simple game.

Watching My Son

Am I allowed to say this? I'll only say it this once, but it was really fun to have my own son be a part of this tennis team. The team is amazing to him, and watching him yell "Let's go!" with his various doubles partners just warmed my heart. Okay, I promise, I'll stop with that stuff now :-)

So Many More...

Cam at doubles, Breece's serve, Tristan's forehands, Gabo's hustle, Dominic's improving serve, Adam's net play, Emerson at singles, Justin's lobs, Ian's defensive, Noah's attacking shots... so many fun moments... and Pizza King :-)

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.

Smiles

We played well tonight. And we were happy for one another. Each time that we would regroup after a segment, our huddle was filled with "How'd you do?" Nobody sulked on the outside of the group, but everyone gave attention to how others were doing. I love a group who is excited for one another, as it carries us through a lot of difficult times. I really loved seeing all the smiles (and then at Pizza King I loved seeing all shades...)

Moment of Intention

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

Dear Lord, I pray for this team as we start the season. Help us to move toward what we want. Lord, we believe that You can lead us to positive interactions, positive relationships, positive tennis improvement... but help our areas of unbelief. Let us see the story of Your help in our lives. Let us see the support of our teammates, and let us send that out to others. Amen.

Scores

Varsity - Segment 1

#1S - Cameron Heinisch - 2-3

#2S - Noah Schrock - 6-0

#3S - Oscar Pairitz - 6-0

#1D - Breece Erickson/Gideon Miller - 4-2

#2D - Tristan Mast/Ian McHugh - 4-3

Varsity - Segment 2

#1S - Oscar Pairitz - 6-1

#2S - Noah Schrock - 8-1

#3S - Cameron Heinisch - 3-2

#1D - Breece Erickson/Tristan Mast - 7-3

#2D - Justin Hochstedler/Gideon Miller - 5-2

Varsity - Segment 3

#1S - Breece Erickson - 5-1

#2S - Oscar Pairitz - 7-0

#3S - Noah Schrock - 4-1

#1D - Cameron Heinisch/Tristan Mast - 6-0

#2D - Gideon Miller/Ian McHugh - 4-1

Junior Varsity - Segment 1

#1SJV - Justin Hochstedler - 4-3

#2SJV - Elliot Hertzler Gascho - 3-2

#3SJV - Gabo Brenneman Ochoa - 4-1

#1DJV - Adam Siemens-Rhodes/Emerson Landis - 2-4

#2DJV - Keagan Meyer/Dominic Ramer - 3-0

Junior Varsity - Segment 2

#1SJV - Ian McHugh - 4-5

#2SJV - Elliot Hertzler Gascho - 6-1

#3SJV - Dominic Ramer - 0-6

#1DJV - Emerson Landis/Keagan Meyer - 6-3

#2DJV - Adam Siemens-Rhodes/Gabo Brenneman Ochoa - 6-0

Junior Varsity - Segment 3

#1SJV - Emerson Landis - 4-2

#2SJV - Adam Siemens-Rhodes - 4-0

#3SJV - Elliot Hertzler Gascho - 4-0

#1DJV - Justin Hochstedler/Keagan Meyer - 3-2

#2DJV - Gabo Brenneman Ochoa/Dominic Ramer - 3-0