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Varsity Recap
After a 6-0 week last week, we enter the last week of the regular season playing our best tennis of the season. Tonight, we faced the Falcons of Fairfield, a team with a 16-2 record and a #5 ranking in the NE Indiana District.
And we faced the Falcons with strength. All of our positions really came to challenge and believe tonight.
And we faced the Falcons with strength. All of our positions really came to challenge and believe tonight.
Noah faced the best player he's seen all season. After struggling in the first set, Noah found competitive fire to make the second set closer. In both sets, Noah continued to make points and game close and long. At times, it just seemed like the final strike was missing or drifting. The Falcon #1S player absolutely is amongst the top that we'll see, and so he was not giving away any easy mistakes. Noah lost the match, only his second on the season.
At #1D, Keagan and Emerson are back in a confident place where they are just going for their shots. In this match, they hit huge off the ground. Against a good team, we found that the placement of these shots mattered so much. We got ahead in the rallies when we hit our spots, but the Falcons had great hands on their volleys if we got too close to them. In both sets we rallied after falling behind, showing great belief. Each time I thought that we were going to tie it up and send the set to a tiebreak, but each time we fell just short.
At #2D, the Bruins got out to a very hot start. Malachi and Ethan were both focused and confident. Our net play was particularly inspiring, both simple and strong. Malachi has improved his serve quite a bit in the past week, Ethan was hitting his serve well. And so starting out this match, we drew errors. We built a lead early, but the Falcons didn't fade away. They got a bit more aggressive, and the set tightened, but we stayed strong. It went to a tiebreak, where we got just a little tentative. That was enough to fall behind and lose the tiebreak first set. In the second set we couldn't find the same energy, and #2D saw the Falcons earn their third team point.
In the other 2 singles matches, we continued to play great tennis. Judah found all sorts of lobs, power shots and angles as his opponent tried to find a way past him. Trailing 4-2 in the first set, Judah went on a run of great play to take the first set (6-4) and grow a big lead (5-1) in the second. In this stretch he had all sorts of strokes working, especially his backhand pass and lob. Judah sealed up the second set to give the Bruins our first point.
At #1D, Keagan and Emerson are back in a confident place where they are just going for their shots. In this match, they hit huge off the ground. Against a good team, we found that the placement of these shots mattered so much. We got ahead in the rallies when we hit our spots, but the Falcons had great hands on their volleys if we got too close to them. In both sets we rallied after falling behind, showing great belief. Each time I thought that we were going to tie it up and send the set to a tiebreak, but each time we fell just short.
At #2D, the Bruins got out to a very hot start. Malachi and Ethan were both focused and confident. Our net play was particularly inspiring, both simple and strong. Malachi has improved his serve quite a bit in the past week, Ethan was hitting his serve well. And so starting out this match, we drew errors. We built a lead early, but the Falcons didn't fade away. They got a bit more aggressive, and the set tightened, but we stayed strong. It went to a tiebreak, where we got just a little tentative. That was enough to fall behind and lose the tiebreak first set. In the second set we couldn't find the same energy, and #2D saw the Falcons earn their third team point.
In the other 2 singles matches, we continued to play great tennis. Judah found all sorts of lobs, power shots and angles as his opponent tried to find a way past him. Trailing 4-2 in the first set, Judah went on a run of great play to take the first set (6-4) and grow a big lead (5-1) in the second. In this stretch he had all sorts of strokes working, especially his backhand pass and lob. Judah sealed up the second set to give the Bruins our first point.
Gideon continued to play really solid and calm tennis. Points in this #2S match were long, as each player hit well but didn't want to make errors. It seemed like a very tactical match, where the opponents were probing the defenses and looking for weaknesses. Gideon broke away from a close beginning, and took the first set. In the second, he followed the same pattern and gathered two match points while leading 5-3 in the second. He failed to take those match points and instead became nervous, eventually falling behind 6-5. But Gideon regrouped really well, came out confident, and finished out the match in a second set tiebreak.
So, it was a 3-2 loss for the Bruins, but one that gives us a lot of belief!
So, it was a 3-2 loss for the Bruins, but one that gives us a lot of belief!
JV Recap
The JV match against Fairfield was all the way back on September 9. It couldn't have been different conditions. When the JV played it was hot, humid... the kind of Indiana summer day that just feels like everything is still and nothing wants to move. With Fairfield having so many JV players (I think 27!) the Bruins all had to play multiple matches.
The JV match against Fairfield was all the way back on September 9. It couldn't have been different conditions. When the JV played it was hot, humid... the kind of Indiana summer day that just feels like everything is still and nothing wants to move. With Fairfield having so many JV players (I think 27!) the Bruins all had to play multiple matches.
The first round didn't go super well, and set a kind of tone of malaise for the final few rounds. It feels weird to look back at this match now, because late in the season we've become much better at energy and movement.
But our dip in energy wasn't for lack in trying. Isaya was grinding away trying to find ways to win points. Josiah really was learning how to move and time his swings and began understanding that in this match. Eli and Preston were in one of their closest matches. Lucas and Aaron made a big comeback in their last match, while Ender and Silas won their final round.
But it really does seem like months ago, even though it was just two weeks ago!
I really like the way...
This will be a segment of each match report where I'll highlight amazing things - points, efforts, encouragements from the match.
- I really like the way we love to play
One of the most inspiring things about this team is that they love the movement and play of this game. Long after the match was over tonight, I had to kick the players off the court because they'd been playing for more than an hour after we'd finished eating. Even then, we had players who wanted to stay some and promised they'd clean up after they served or rallied or whatever. I'm grateful for the way we just love the game.
- I really like the way we regrouped
Tonight, when things went badly, we kept belief. We rallied. Across multiple positions, we were able to come back when we fell behind. Gideon, Keagan, Noah, Judah, Emerson... all of these players fell behind and made a comeback. That's so important when you are playing good opponents. Take a point, take a game, you can do it! I loved seeing the way we did that tonight.
God, in so many ways, I want to trust You. I want to trust You to help us grow stronger, to move us through our worries, to deal with disappoint. But then I find myself trying to figure out what to do. Help me to take a breath and feel the security of Your acceptance and love. Help us to grow in our patience. I pray that the desire to be trusting pleases You. May we continue to move towards Your way.
Amen.
Scores
Varsity
#1S - Noah Schrock - 0-6, 2-6 - Garrett Stoltzfus (12)
#2S - Gideon Miller - 6-2, 7-6 (3) - Drew Beachey (10)
#3S - Judah Miller - 6-4, 6-2 - Conner LeCount (11)
#1D - Emerson Landis/Keagan Meyer - 3-6, 4-6 - Brant Garber (11)/Andrew Mathews (11)
#2D - Ethan Claassen/Malachi Yoder - 6-7 (4), 1-6 - Cameron Cripe (11)/Grady Garber (11)
#2D - Ethan Claassen/Malachi Yoder - 6-7 (4), 1-6 - Cameron Cripe (11)/Grady Garber (11)
Junior Varsity (from September 9)
#2SJV - Isaya Magatti - 0-6 - Ben Pencose
#3SJV - Isaya Magatti - 3-6 - Kohen Hill
#4SJV - Josiah Aguilar Clark - 1-6 - Logan Moore
#5SJV - Josiah Aguilar Clark - 2-6 - Trey Brenneman
#6SJV - Josiah Aguilar Clark - 1-6 - Ethan Clem
#1DJV - Lucas Bateman/Aaron Hochstetler - 2-6 - Brockton Miller/Jaydon Riegsecker
#2DJV - Lucas Bateman/Aaron Hochstetler - 0-6 - Nate Bailey/Brady Park
#3DJV - Lucas Bateman/Aaron Hochstetler - 3-6 - Karter Brickey/Easton Garber
#4DJV - Silas Martin/Ender Finnigan - 1-6 - Zack Mehlberg/Drew Bailey
#5DJV - Silas Martin/Ender Finnigan - 2-6 - Jacob Mast/Adler Bender
#6DJV - Silas Martin/Ender Finnigan - 6-1 - Eli Lehman/Darren Moore
#7DJV - Preston Miller/Eli Steiner - 0-6 - Jesse Bontrager/Braxton Landry
#8DJV - Preston Miller/Eli Steiner - 2-6 - Liam Fowler/Daniel Stout
#9DJV - Preston Miller/Eli Steiner - 4-6 - Dane Moser/Alex Uslavstev
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