One of the things that I've come to realize as a coach is that 3 strong positions can win you plenty of matches. If you have 3 strong positions you will have a winning record, a season that you can be really proud of, and a good amount of close wins.
In 2005, we had 3 very strong positions. Joel King was a senior, and had a 15-4 season at #1 singles. Wes Klassen, a junior, was filling the #3 singles spot in only his second season on the tennis team. However, he had a strong season going 13-6. Also, our #1 doubles was strong, with Jordan Kauffman and Mike Steury picking up 12 wins.
However, the other two positions ended up with losing records on the season. They were very close to .500, but couldn't quite make it over the hump in the big matches. A great example of this problem comes from the Bremen match in 2005.
In 2005, Joel was a dominant player. Honestly, his only close matches were the ones that he lost to quality opponents. When we played Bremen on senior night, he made quite quick work of a very young Joe Rallo. Rallo was only a sophomore and went on to be one of the best players in the area. But Joel won this match 6-2, 6-0.
Wes moved through his match with ease as well. At this late point in the season he had become fairly comfortable with the #3 singles spot, and won 6-3, 6-1 in this match over another inexperienced Lion sophomore.
#1 doubles, Michael Steury and Jordan Kauffman, had a history throughout the season of making matches close and interesting, and then pulling them out in the end. They faced up against two seniors, Marcus Manges (Thomas Manges!) and A.J. Sime. In a typical Jordan Kauffman match, the first set went all the way to a tiebreaker, which we won (Jordan is our all-time leader in tiebreakers won). We went on to pull out a close second set as well, which gave us the three positions for the win.
Relying on those positions, we won several close matches throughout the year. NorthWood was a 3-2 match where we won those same positions. The Laville tournament was a place where we won those positions. The Lakeland tournament, the Prairie Heights match... all matches where we rode these strong positions to victories.
But at the other two positions, we struggled throughout the year. #2 doubles especially lost some heartbreaking matches, and it was the same in this match against the Bremen Lions. They lost 4-6, 5-7. There are numerous reasons they lost these close matches: lack of experience, lack of chemistry, sometimes lack of skill or smart play. But for whatever reason, they couldn't seem to pull the close ones out. And the same was true at #2 singles. In this match, Mark Bauman fell 4-6, 4-6. We just never seemed to win these positions in a close match.
But with three strong positions you can win a match... and so we beat Bremen, a close and inspiring win. It felt a lot like the Triton match this year, or the Jimtown match. It was awesome.
Three positions can win a match. But you cannot win a Sectional.
That's also a lesson from 2005. Even with the great talent we had, you have to be solid at 4-5 positions to truly win a Sectional. When this 2005 team made it to Sectional, we were drawn against the team that really had what it took to beat us, an awesome #1 singles and #1 doubles. Jaren Vest of Jimtown was one of only three people to beat Joel all year, but he beat him twice. Once in the Sectional. And Chris and Mike Landis advanced to Semi-State in the doubles competition, starting with beating Michael and Jordan. So our Sectional rested on #2 singles, #3 singles and #2 doubles.
And Wes came through, but the other two positions couldn't. And so despite winning a lot of awesome 3-2 matches during the season, posting a 14-7 record, and having a lot of thrilling experiences, we fell short at the end. A Sectional is won with a complete team, and a complete team only.
That's what we've got to keep in mind this season. We've got the strength of Ben Mast, Seth Krabill, Kyle Miller, Russell Klassen returning to our lineup, but to win a Sectional, they probably won't be enough. We need Evan Grimes to work hard, we need Blake Shetler to step it up, we need a Matt Ebersole, Abe Thorne, Ryan Minter, Han Gil Lee, Ike Lehman, Parth Patel, Wade Troyer, Josh Helmuth... someone to step up and put in the work. Because we can't expect to dominate a Sectional with a weak position. We need everyone working hard.
And so what are you doing? How are you encouraging the others that might have a hand in our Sectional fate? What do you have to say to them?