All-Time Record vs Concord: 0-10Classic Matches:
2008: Concord 3, Bethany Christian 2
Playing Concord for the second time, we pulled our closest match as far as score ever against the Minutemen. Daniel and Mikey posted a dominant 6-2, 6-2 victory at #2 doubles, and Jared Schwartzentruber won 6-2, 6-2 at #2 singles. Unfortunately, the 3 positions that Concord won were not that close.
2008: Concord 4, Bethany Christian 1
This was actually the match we were closer to winning. Jared controlled his match the same as before, winning 6-2, 6-1. At the same time, #2 doubles had not yet started their dominant run, and suffered their first loss of the season, but in a 10-point tiebreak. Luke Hostetter also lost to Concord junior Andre Ziebold in a 10-point tiebreak. If those tiebreaks would have gone the other way, we would have picked up our only win ever over the Minutemen.
2005: Concord 4, Bethany Christian 1
This was the famous Joel King match. Playing against Austin Conrad, Joel deeply desired to beat the school whose district he lived in. He knew many players on the team and wanted to prove that he would be #1, even at that big school. After losing the first set, he began to cramp. But he won the second 6-2, to force a 10-point tiebreaker. At one point I told him that if he cramped again he was done... so when he cramped again he just didn't react, so I wouldn't know. He ended up winning, but literally couldn't move after the match was over as his whole body cramped. Arms, legs, chest, almost everywhere.
Top Players over the Years: Jason Denton, Andre Ziebold, Andre Moore, Jared Queener, Austin Conrad, Josh Moore, Bryan Colburn, Alex Kiefer...
Last Season Result: Concord 5, Bethany Christian 0
Returning Varsity Players:
#3S - Jason Denton (def. Nick Rebec, 6-0, 6-1)
Top Returning JV Players:
#1S - No Names Reported (def. Matt Ebersole, 8-1)
#2S - No Names Reported (lost to Jake Gerig, 3-8)
#3S - No Names Reported (def. Evan Eby, 8-4)
#1D - No Names Reported (def. Evan Grimes/Blake Shetler, 8-1)
#2D - No Names Reported (def. Ike Lehman/Himal King, 8-4)
Outlook:
Concord brings back very little experience next year. What they do have is a great coach who will work with their JV talent to get them prepared for the next varsity level. I expect Jason Denton, who went undefeated this season, to be one of the better #1 singles players in the area. The rest of the team will have to step up in order for Concord to have success in their conference and in their Sectional. We'll see them early in the season, before they've had a chance to become too experienced. Let us hope that we can play confidently and take advantage of the fact that we have 5 returning players to their 1.