Nathan Brendle - All-District

Congratulations to Nathan Brendle! He has been named to the 2012 District 2 All-District team!

This team consists of the top 16 singles players in northeast Indiana. The district stretches from South Bend to Kokomo, east toward Marion and then also includes Fort Wayne. There are 82 teams in the district, which means there are more than 250 players eligible for this award. Nate's selection puts him in the 5% of players in the northeast area of Indiana!

Nathan is the second Bruin all-time to be selected to the All-District team, so it is quite an honor. The other player was Ben Mast in 2010. Nathan is joined on the team by several other players from our area, including Nick Pollock of Concord and Derek Hinen of Columbia City, 2 players that Nathan defeated during this season.

Nathan ended the season 21-2. That is a record for wins in a single season by a Bethany Christian player. Nathan ended his career as a Bruin with 51 wins. That is also a record (at least for the time that we have records :-), eclipsing Luke Hostetter's 45. Nathan also set multiple other records this year, including winning 21 straight matches. 40 straight sets, 8 matches in a row where he won at least one of the sets "6-0," and he had 16 "6-0" sets on the season. It was an incredible year and the All-District team is a fitting recognition for such a great player.

Here is the team in full (click on the picture to enlarge):

Here are some wonderful things about Nathan, that I said on Senior Night:

One thing that I always enjoy about Senior Night is reflecting on how each senior has changed. With Nathan, he has always been our most skilled player, since he joined as a sophomore. But watching how he has matured mentally over the years has been incredible. Making amazing strides in self-control, focus, and patience, he has both solidified his tennis game and put himself in a great place to succeed post-tennis. I've always enjoyed his honesty and desire to be a player who is concerned with the team. As such, I've enjoyed watching him celebrate his personal successes (like the Merrillville Tournament championship) as well as his teammates successes (like Joel and Hans win over Elkhart Central!)

The other thing that has been great about Nathan is his willingness to teach. He has a gift of helping others, especially with their serves, and seeing him use that gift has been awesome. With his Fairfield win, Nathan is now the all-time leader at Bethany for varsity wins. So we will miss his incredible talent. But we will also miss the other gifts he gives to the team.

"Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid." - John 14:27

Congratulations to Ike!

Congratulations to Ike Lehman, who has been named to the Honorable Mention All-State Academic Team. Savor the one time in your life you will be the tennis equal of Ronnie Schneider, Ike!

Ike's selection marks the third consecutive year that the Bruins have placed a team member on the Academic All-State team. The qualifications are quite high, and Ike joins Ben Mast and Blake Shetler as our three in a row to have won the award.

Here's looking at Parth, Abe, Joel and Justin to give us a fourth consecutive year next year!

Congratulations Ike, thanks for your hard work on and off the court.

Nathan Brendle v. Mazin Hakim

A couple Wednesdays ago, our Bruin season quietly concluded on a dark, damp evening. We were nice and warm inside, and the court was certainly not quiet. But it's taken me two weeks to write about anything because, well, disappointment takes some time to work its way through me.

Nathan Brendle was the last Bruin alive this season, as he had eased through his Sectional match and advanced to the Individual Sectional. Because of the way that other results in the Sectional fell, Nathan only had one match to play to become the Individual Sectional champion. That match was against Elkhart Memorial's Mazin Hakim.

Throughout the season, Nathan and Hakim had similar scores against their common opponents. Hakim had gotten on a roll during the tournament season, helping lead the Memorial Chargers to their first Team Sectional championship before they bowed out to the Fairfield Falcons. Nathan was also on a roll, having won 21 (!) straight matches.

As the rain sprinkled the Concord courts, we agreed to move the match indoors. And the match got off to a brilliant start for Nathan. He broke Mazin's serve in the first game and then held his own to get a 2-0 lead. He continued to build and took a stellar first set, 6-1. In that set, Nathan made only 4 errors total, while Hakim made many more. It was Hakim who seemed to be showing his nerves, and Nathan was playing calmly and in control.

The second set started out with the same. Nathan built a 4-1 lead, without ever getting his serve broken. The lead was somewhat deceiving in the second set, as it was only 1 break of serve separating the two players. However, at 4-1 Nathan had several chances to break again and pull ahead 5-1. Unfortunately, he couldn't connect with any of these chances, and the long hold proved to be a turning point for Hakim.

Changing strategies, Hakim began to go for less and rally more. Consequently, Nathan found it hard to win points. He was tempted to go for more than he could hit, and as the match tightened up, so did Nate's nerves. He still played solid tennis, and the match was outstanding from that point on... but Nathan couldn't dominate like he had in the early part of the match.

The match went back and forth from this point on, but after losing a close second set, Nathan could never pull back into the lead as he had trouble breaking Hakim. Though Nathan managed to tie the third set at 5-5 by finally breaking Hakim, Hakim played a huge game at 5-5 to break Nathan. The season ended in the next game, as Nathan's forehand return sailed wide, and Hakim advanced in a thrilling third set victory.

There was much to be proud of in this match and in the season, but it is always difficult to watch a season end. I really get tired of how much it hurts, how many questions it leaves, etc.

But one thing is never questioned, as the Bruin guys rolled out onto the court to talk to Nathan after the loss... we know how much these guys care for each other, how much they wanted this for Nate, how invested they have been in the season.

Great season for Nathan, as he ends at 21-2 individually. Great season for the Bruins, as we "over-achieved" at 13-7 as a team. Great season for all!

Nathan Brendle - Individual Sectional

Given the fact that Nathan is still undefeated in tournament play (with his 6-4, 6-1 win over Jimtown #1 Austin Ward), Nathan is involved in the Individual State Tournament. In this tournament, any individual #1 singles player who is undefeated in the team tournament may advance. In Nathan's case, he has been entered into the Individual Sectional.

While the Individual Sectional is scheduled to begin tomorrow night, Nathan does not yet have an opponent to play. In the 4 Team Sectionals that feed into the Individual bracket, the only undefeated #1 singles players are the ones whose teams are still alive in the team tournament. They cannot participate in the Individual Tournament until their team has been eliminated from the Team Tournament.

So, we wait to see what happens tonight in the other matches. Check the Facebook and the blog for updates about Nathan as we hope he continues his record-setting season!