GOSHEN — Bethany played a match against Northridge that was identical to last year, score-wise, but a far cry from the 0-5 drubbings of years past. Coach Matt Miller had a much better grip on what was going on, him being the coach and everything, and he summed it up pretty well
here. Even so, there are still a few things I'd like to add.
I didn't see much of #1 doubles (Jared Schwartzentruber/Jeremy Thomas) and #2 singles (Jonny Shenk). I had been intrigued by Ben Mast's match at 3 singles upon arriving and by the time I pulled himself away from his match, #2 doubles team Daniel Buschert/Seth Krabill had taken the first set 6-1. From glancing at 1 dubs and 2 singles, however, it was fairly clear that they were totally outclassed. Ben looked to be gong the same way, losing the first set 0-6, and Luke Hostetter was playing many of his trademark iiiinnncccrrreeedddiiibbblllyyy lllooonnnggg pppoooiiinnntttsss in falling behind 0-3.
(Both doubles matches and #2 singles continued on the same track throughout—I’m going to focus on the other two.)
Luke would go on to drop the first set 0-6. As Matt said at one point during that match, “Luke is playing long points [understatement of year so far?], which is to his advantage. He’s just not finishing them.” Seeing some closure to that debacle, I went back over to Court 5, where I expected Ben to be finishing up his first-ever varsity match in a manner just short of a double-bagel, uniform-fueled bonfire. I was in for the surprise of my life.
Ben was still fully clothed (hallelujah) and up 3-1 in the second set. Through the first set, it was obvious that he was getting to the ball comfortably; the problem was that he wasn’t hitting it very well. That, needless to say, had changed. He would tighten up a little bit, but hang on to a break and took the second set 6-4.
Thankfully (to me), high school tennis is equipped with a ten-minute break between the second and third set, allowing me to return to court 1, watch a game of Luke’s match (now down 3-1 in set two) and figure out where to go from there. Luke would try to mount a comeback, pulling to within 4-3 at one point, but ultimately fall short 0-6, 3-6 in a valiant second-set effort, giving Northridge three matches and a win. As the unofficial official score reporter between Courts 1 and 5, I broke this news to KP, the Mast clan, and several assorted Bruin supporters gathered nearby, and settled in to watch Ben hang on to pull the match out 0-6, 6-4, 6-4. The scoreline makes the match look like it was close; in truth, Ben looked like he had in his grasp for basically the last set and a half.
While this was going on, Russell Klassen was beating up on an opponent much larger than he, winning 8-2; Mikey Kelly was trying to play lefthanded...he didn’t do so well, losing 8-5; and Matthew Amstutz was playing a very streaky match, going up 2-1, falling to 4-3, and holding serve in the fourteenth game to win 8-6. With Jake Gerig/Blake Shetler up 5-0 and Austin Loucks/Kyle Miller up 4-3, it looked like we were in position to take the JV match easily. Jake and Blake lost control of the Raider serves, but held their own and won 8-3. Austin and Kyle didn’t fare as well, losing 5-8.
This put us up 3-2 in JV play; freshmen Matt Ebersole’s and Evan Grimes’ singles matches were the only two points remaining. Matt was up 5-0 on an opponent with severe shin splints, and Evan was losing 0-4 to someone else. The matches would finish virtually simultaneously, with Matt winning 8-4, and Evan losing 3-8. This finally brought an end to BC-Northridge, roughly three hours after it started.
Northridge 3, Bethany 2. JV: Bethany 4, Northridge 3.
Luke Hostetter lost to Jeff George 0-6, 3-6. Jonny Shenk lost to Nick Myers 1-6, 0-6. Ben Mast def. Dylan Pieri 0-6, 6-4, 6-4. Jared Schwartzentruber/Jeremy Thomas lost to James Brandenburger/Blake Lukin 1-6, 4-6. Daniel Buschert/Seth Krabill def. Colin Chocola/Jeremy Runge 6-1, 6-0.
