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Varsity
After a long week off of tennis, with two matches getting cancelled by rain, the Bruins returned to play with two tournaments this fine September Saturday. The varsity traveled to Portage for their "Triple Dual" style of tournament. This means each team played three team matches, and the best record at the end was the champion.
The Bruins started off the tournament against Merrillville. Last year, we had defeated them in several close matches, including losing one position. This year, nothing was really close. Ian adjusted to playing singles, making a great comeback from being down 4-2, then winning the next nine straight games. But other than that the Bruins had control of the matches from pretty much start to finish. There were shots to celebrate, Gideon and Noah both controlling great drop shots and Cameron and Breece really "cross courting" well. In the end, the first round was 5-0 to the Bruins.
The second round was a rematch with Triton, who we had played earlier in the season. In that match, Tristan and Emerson had sat out to allow Breece and Cameron to get some matches in. This time, Cam and Breece watched Tristan and Emerson play. Each of the different positions took care of business in the match against the Trojans, and again we had a 5-0 win.
That meant that the final round against Portage would be for the tournament championship. And it started off well for the Bruins. In hard fought sets, each of the singles positions came out with a tight victory. Cam was patient and attacking at #1S, able to find places to force errors and keep rallies going. Noah was able to endure long points and finish off a couple of games at the end to pull away. Gideon was aggressive and smart, taking advantage of his power.
The doubles were also close. Breece and Ian built a lead behind Breece's serve and some great returns from Ian. At 5-4, they were able to seal the set and start right into a new one. In the second set, they did something really important, they built a lead. With a lead, they were able to put pressure on the solid Portage #1D. Under the pressure, Portage couldn't quite find the strokes that they needed. In the end, Breece and Ian brought home the first point for the Bruins.
#2D started off great as well, up 4-1 in their first set. But they couldn't push that set across the finish line. Instead they found themselves down 6-5 in the first set. But what a response they brought. They sent the first set into a tiebreak, then fell down 1-4 in the tiebreak, but recovered to win it and take the first set. These comebacks were marked by great serving and remarkably confident play from the baseline. They picked smart and aggressive places and hit to those places.
So, we'd won the first set at all five positions and finished off one of those matches. Noah became the second position to finish off a match, winning with an identical 6-1 score to #1D. With that done, we needed just one more set between the final three positions on the court.
But it wasn't to be. Each position left, #1S, #3S, and #2D, fell behind early in the second sets. Despite mostly keeping the games close, and even the set close for some, we couldn't snag the difficult points. The whole tournament had been played with No-Ad scoring, and these winner take all points really bit us in these second sets.
Cameron was the first to come off the courts, having succumbed 5-10 in a third set tiebreak. Then #2D fought from down 7-2 to close the gap to 6-7, but then ended up falling 7-10 in the tiebreak. Finally, Gideon was forced to a third set, and saw his opponent come up with some amazing saves. He also ended up losing the third set tiebreak.
In the end, the Bruins lost 3-2, with all the losses coming from third set tiebreaks. It wasn't the way we wanted to end, so we went to Buffalo Wild Wings to make a better last memory.
JV Recap
The JV had headed off in the other direction, to the eastern edge of the state to play at the Fremont JV Invite. This invite was not team matches, but individual tournaments where each player could earn points for the team score. So we were drawn into a group with East Noble and FreKalb (a combination of Fremont and DeKalb players, as each team had a couple extra :-)
I love getting updates from the guys while I'm coaching the varsity, so it was really fun to hear from them about how well the morning started. Both doubles teams, Justin and Adam at #1D and Elliot and Keagan at #2D, won their first matches. They also reported that Gabo and Dominic had played well in early losses. Gabo was able to come back and snag a win in his second round as well.
In the end, both doubles teams ended up going 2-1 on the day, finishing 2nd and 3rd in the invite. Gabo finished #1SJV at 4th, and Dominic got a lot of great experience, finishing 6th.
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 :-)
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 :-)
Drop Shots!
Both Gideon and Noah were masters of the drop shot today. Especially off of weak 2nd serves, they were finding ways to get forward and angle these shots for winners!
JV Texts!
I love getting excited texts throughout the day about what's going on at the JV tournament. It just makes it feel like an early day at a Grand Slam tournament, when there is just tennis going on everywhere. Keagan and Justin both excitably sent a message after they had won matches. It's such an encouragement to know that good is going on elsewhere too!
Power Forehands!
Today, the power of forehands was in effect. In the match against Merrillville, Cameron had an amazing point where he was trading forehands cross court with his opponent. Cameron was finding such amazing angles, at one point sending the Merrillville player into the side fence. The Pirate player got the ball back, so Cameron crashed another angled forehand into the fence! At other spots, Gideon was attacking behind his mid court forehand, and Noah was putting mid court forehands away for winners. Meanwhile, Tristan kept up a steady attack down the line with his forehand. It's becoming a real strength across our team!
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.
This segment is where I'll highlight ways that we built each other up during the match or the lead up to it.
Let's Go Eat!
After the disappointing end to the tournament, Breece came up to me. He didn't want the bus ride home to be sour and depressing, so he wanted to make sure that we were still planning to go out and get some food together. It's amazing how getting some food together can raise everyone's spirits. We went and watched the IU football game (and all the others), and it was super encouraging. The bus ride home was really fun, as we celebrated IU's comeback victory with our biggest fan (Cameron) as we drove back!
Moment of Intention
This is a space where I will offer a short prayer for the team.
God, this was a great day to play tennis. And we played some really great tennis. It's fun to play, but it's also fun to finish. Help us to stay calm and breathe in moments of pressure, to remember that pressure is a privilege. We are getting to do something that may leave us with wonderful memories, something that will reveal and form our character, something that gives us a chance to love and be loved. Thanks for all of these opportunities!
Scores
VARSITY
Bethany Christian 5, Merrillville 0
#1S - Noah Schrock - 6-0, 6-0 - Ahmed Sulieman (10)
#2S - Gideon Miller - 6-0, 6-1 - Jordan Jones (12)
#3S - Ian McHugh - 6-4, 6-0 - Noah Molenda (9)
#1D - Breece Erickson/Cameron Heinisch - 6-1, 6-0 - Cameron Fields (10)/Lucas Zakutansky (12)
#2D - Tristan Mast/Emerson Landis - 6-2, 6-2 - Mario Mukes (11)/Steffen Smith (11)
Bethany Christian 5, Triton 0
#1S - Noah Schrock - 6-1, 6-0 - Caden Large (10)
#2S - Gideon Miller - 6-1, 6-0 - Damon Kuntz (10)
#3S - Ian McHugh - Won by default
#1D - Breece Erickson/Cameron Heinisch - Won by default
#2D - Tristan Mast/Emerson Landis - 6-1, 6-2 - Zac Greer (11)/Ethan Shively (11)
Portage 3, Bethany Christian 2
#1S - Cameron Heinisch - 6-4, 2-6, 5-10 - Oscar Kapinos (12)
#2S - Noah Schrock - 6-4, 6-1 - Nolan Sheets (10)
#3S - Gideon Miller - 6-3, 4-6, 6-10 - Zach Crizer (12)
#1D - Breece Erickson/Ian McHugh - 6-4, 6-1 - Dylan Sutphin (12)/Nate Pollard (11)
#2D - Tristan Mast/Emerson Landis - 7-6 (5), 2-6, 7-10 - Cameron Adams (12)/Tim Brewster (11)
JUNIOR VARSITY
#1SJV - Gabo Brenneman Ochoa
R1: FreKalb - 3-8. R2: East Noble - 8-6. R3: DeKalb - 4-8. Finish: 4th
#2SJV - Dominic Ramer
R1: East Noble - 1-8. R2: FreKalb - 2-6. R3: DeKalb - 0-8. Finish: 6th
#1DJV - Justin Hochstedler/Adam Siemens Rhodes
R1: FreKalb - 8-4. R2: East Noble - 6-8. R3: DeKalb - 8-6. Finish: 3rd
#2DJV - Elliot Hertzler Gascho/Keagan Meyer
R1: East Noble - 8-6. R2: FreKalb - 8-0. R3: Fremont - 4-8. Finish: 2nd
Excellent information.
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