DUNLAP — A matchup between the two remaining undefeated tennis teams in the Northern Lakes Conference found itself a winner Tuesday afternoon, but it wasn’t a satisfying one.
Goshen (12-2, 5-0 NLC) and Concord (8-5, 4-1 NLC) faced off in a high-profile tennis match in Dunlap Tuesday. The RedHawks and Minutemen were knotted 2-2 as the third set at the top doubles court had yet to finish.
Seniors Lukas Ulfig and Jordan Flores had won the first set 6-2 before dropping a second-set tiebreaker to Goshen’s Eli Stickel and Tristan Keiser 7-6 (4), setting up the final series.
Ulfig and Flores were up early, winning the first game and eventually taking a 2-1 lead. Stickel and Keiser stormed back, winning the next two and capturing a 3-2 lead while Ulfig battled a limp. Goshen upped its lead to 4-3 and then 5-4. Ulfig continued to wave off any call for a trainer, but facing a third-set loss, the senior sat on the bench and signaled.
“I’m never gonna go against a trainer in this particular case, unless it’s the very final match of the season where they have to push through it,” Concord first-year head coach Evan Atkinson said. “[Trainer] Robin [Berghoff] said her recommendation was for him to stop because he could hurt himself more. At that point, it was like ‘That’s our decision, we’re just gonna stop.’”
Concord was forced to forfeit the rest of third set, thus awarding Goshen the 3-2 conference win to remain undefeated in the NLC with the bottom two teams left on the schedule.
RedHawks’ head coach Daniel Love was glad to earn the win, but felt the spectators shared feeling that such a close match deserved a better finish.
“Everybody out here, everybody would have loved to see that be able to be completed because I have no idea who would have came out on top of that,” Love said. “It was very close.”
He was happy to see his group rally in the third match, but wasn’t blinded by the factor health played.
“I liked the outcome of it,” Love said. “The Concord player’s health was a big factor in that. He had a hard time getting serves in play, he had a hard time getting to the ball. It’s hard to know. If he was 100% healthy who knows if we would have been able to get that lead or not.”
Atkinson said they didn’t know where the injury came from, but said it started before a collision between Ulfig and Flores later in the match. That collision wasn’t a factor.
“He doesn’t know,” Atkinson said. “In tennis there’s a lot of twisting and turning and if a disc isn’t pushing correctly on that, unfortunately it’s going to have an effect on the rest of your body. It’s a bummer, but, tomorrow’s evaluation and we’ll take it from there.”
He cited Ulfig’s warrior mentality to try and fight through it.
“He certainly didn’t want to quit, he had a hero mentality out there, but it’s not worth it from the team perspective.”
“Honestly one-doubles, that’s some of the best tennis they played all year,” Atkinson said. “It’s a bummer to lose that way but obviously we have a future in mind other than this one individual match. We want to make sure he’s OK the rest of the season and finish strong.
Before the third-set heartbreaker, Goshen and Concord were engaged in other close courts. The Minutemen earned their first point when Brodie Hershberger won easily and No. 2 doubles, defeating Mo Watt 6-1, 6-1.
Goshen’s Isaac Moore evened the score at 1-1 when he defeated Alex Kridler 6-1, 6-1.
The No. 2 doubles team of Logan Yoder Rupp and Holden Ebright Zehr won two nailbiters to give Goshen a 2-1 lead overall. Rupp and Zehr won 6-2, 7-6 (1).
Goshen freshman Logan Beck and Concord senior Adam Burkert engaged in one of the best matchups the NLC has to offer this season. After Beck’s 5-4 lead in the first set was stolen, Burkert completed the comeback to even the team score at 2-2 with a 7-5, 6-3 victory.
“We favor his experience there but Logan is a great player,” Atkinson said. “He’s worked really hard to be at the level that he is. He did a lot of really impressive things. On a hot day like this and you’re feeling all the pressure, the physicality of tennis come into play and I was proud of Adam for handling that and staying mentality focused after that first set.”
Then came the injury-aided victory for Goshen. Before that, No. 1 doubles was known for the loudest court of the evening. Ulfig and Stickel were loud for their respective sides as energy dictated the court’s leader throughout the match.
“We’ve been working on that a lot,” Atkinson said. “We’ve been working on body language and momentum like you just said and energy that is contagious. We knew it was going to be a tough match so I was proud of the guys for being vocal but also using good sportsmanship. It was always towards their own crowd, not towards the face of an opponent.”
“We let our energy drop a few different points,” Love said. “That wasn’t the deciding factor, but it was a major factor in how we were playing. We started serving worse which led to a lot of faults, we were hitting into the net instead of clearing it when our energy dropped. It’s sort of nature that when [Concord] is doing well, your energy drops, but you can’t respond like that, you have to respond with the will to win the next point. When we did that, we played well.”
Goshen has two conference matchups left this season. The RedHawks have yet to face bottom-of-the-pack Plymouth and Mishawaka. Concord meanwhile must still face NLC-contenders Northridge and Warsaw.
The NLC regular season only accounts for half of the conference title. The other half is determined by placing at the NLC Finals next week. Action begins that Wednesday and Thursday at Northridge before shifting to Warsaw for the final day on Saturday.
The RedHawks’ last conference title was in 2023. They have nine titles in total.
“We knew going into this one that whoever won was going to be in good position and in the driver’s seat,” Love said. “We’re happy to be in the driver’s seat and now we just need to take care of business.”
Goshen is next in action when the RedHawks host Plymouth on Thursday at 5:30 p.m. Concord hosts Northridge on Thursday with a 5 p.m. start time.
————
PREP BOYS TENNIS
Goshen def. Concord 3-2
No. 1 singles: Adam Burkert (Con) def. Logan Beck (G) 7-5, 6-3
No. 2 singles: Brodie Hershberger (Con) def. Mo Watt (G) 6-1, 6-1
No. 3 singles: Isaac Moore (G) def. Alex Kridler (Con) 6-1, 6-1
No. 1 doubles: Eli Stickel-Tristan Keiser (G) def. Lukas Ulfig-Jordan Flores (Con) Forfeit
No. 2 doubles: Logan Yoder Rupp-Holden Ebright Zehr (G) def. Ethan Hausbach-Drew McEachern (Con) 6-2, 7-6 (1)
Records: Goshen (12-2, 5-0 NLC), Concord (8-5, 4-1 NLC)
O que achou dessa notícia? Deixe um comentário abaixo e/ou compartilhe em suas redes sociais. Assim conseguiremos informar mais pessoas sobre o que acontece no mundo do tênis!
Esta notícia foi originalmente publicada em:
Fonte original