Boys Tennis

A good night with a lot of different looks on the roster. Some new and old doubles combinations, a few people getting their first experience in a “varsity” singles set. Need to keep an eye on Engelman and his shoulder.

The Trojans defeated Lebanon 5-0 after a full three hour battle. The Trojans saw a total of three courts go three sets. #1s Gavin Guffey (9) started his high school career out in a 70 minute 7-5 first set that saw several strategies implored, including a three game badminton stint! He figured his opponent out, stayed patient, worked one shot ahead, and rolled to a swift 6-2 second set win. #2s Matthew Haas (9) also in his first ever varsity match took a moment to get his feet wet before defeating his opponent in three 4-6, 6-1, 6-3. #1d William Pruitt (11) / William Dietrick (11) saw a 6-1 first set slip away after a 2-6 second set lapse in serving. The duo overcame a match riddled with unforced errors (62 to be exact!) and overcame a 3-4 deficit to clinch 6-4 in the third. #3s Charlie Park (10) was the last player in the clubhouse also playing in his first ever varsity match. Charlie went the distance 6-4, 5-7, 6-2 winning his first ever third setter. #2d Alex Konvolinka (11) / Gabe Martinez (11) took care of business only losing one game en route to a 6-1, 6-0 win. Despite a few mental lapses, it was a good home opener at that!

The Trojans continue an impressive start to the season going 10-0 at varsity matches across their first two starts. #1s Gavin Guffey (9) found himself in a tight match against a fellow freshman. Gavin had an impressive 39+ shot stretch of no unforced errors against Joshua, which pushed Christener further than his shoulder allowed him to go tonight. Gavin won after the Giants retired at 6-2 BCHS in the first set due to injury. #2s Matthew Haas (9) cruised in a clinic 6-1, 6-2. These two are going to be fun teammates to watch as they continue to push each other over the next four years. #3s Charlie Park (10) won his first career varsity tiebreak in his first set to remain 1/1 in career tiebreaks 7-6(1), 6-4. What a promising 9-9-10 singles lineup!
#1d William Dietrick (11) / William Pruitt (11) got off to a hot start before losing steam in the second set. They need to be reminded of Coach Clark’s Mantra! However, the two were never really tested despite their mental lapse, ultimately winning 6-0, 6-4. #2d Alex Konvolinka (11) / Gabe Martinez (11) made focused and quick work of their opponents 6-0, 6-2.

Another impressive showing by varsity, as they remain undefeated as a team on the season and 14-1 in their opening three matches. A 98.8F court temperature didn’t slow anyone down. The new courts at Lawrence Central are something else. Post-tensionsed stress concrete is the next greatest thing in tennis courts and although they play slower, man oh man are they nice. #1s Guffey (9) faced down a heavy serving senior 6-3, 6-4 in match that showed how important first serve percentages (and return of serves) really are. Way to go Gavin! #2s Haas (9) continued his quest for extra time on court, going the distance 6-4, 4-6, 10-4 (called 10pt third set tiebreak since the match was decided 3-1 at this point). #1d Dietrick (11) / Pruitt (11) earned the first WHITE BALLS of the season with a 6-3, 6-0 performance. Way to not relax, get comfortable, and let up in the second set! #2d Konvolinka (11) / Martinez (11) started making more unforced errors than not in the second set before pulling out a 6-0, 6-4 win. We talked about taking advantage of your opponents positioning towards the very end of this match, if they’re going to give you the backhand lane, take advantage of it!

In attempt #2, there was definitely less lighting, especially none that emanated from our side of the court! Singles took a thundering winning five games across six sets in three matches. #1s Gavin Guffey (9) fell to a sophomore transfer who came in from Carmel’s JV team. He was the longest match of the night by at least a margin of 30 minutes, and it was a 1-6, 2-6 defeat. That’s something else to be so deep that you could send a JV player away and they play #1s for Park Tudor! Zach Engelman (12) stepped in for his first varsity match of the year but met a rapid exit. Need to keep working on his consistency, the short match was made even shorter due to our early mistakes. #1d William Dietrick (11)/William Pruitt (11) gave it their best against PT’s strongest position, but couldn’t come up with an answer for the Panthers’ serving. #2d Alex Konvolinka (11)/Gabe Martinez (11) went down in the closet battle of the night 3-6, 3-6.

I think several guys would say they’d like this night back. It was special to see Chris Sciaudone return to coaching in the midst of his battle with brain cancer. Todd Metzger assisted many of the coaching duties this evening. #1s Guffey was in this one against a young sophomore, but our serving (especially second serving) couldn’t quite get us over the hump. Gavin’s consistency on the ground has been remarkable during this stretch, but it hasn’t netted the winner:error ratio you need to beat a #1s player on a top 20 team. Many more chances to come! #2s Haas met a quick exit. We need to avoid letting our mental game snowball through the course of a match. He’s only a freshman we must remind ourselves, PPR!
The team who wants this one back. #2d Konvolinka/Martinez. Serving percentages will climb through the season and two up formations will get better, but not in tonights’ 4-6, 7-5, 2-6 loss.

This might be who we are this year, the guys need to dig deep and decide if that’s what they are content with. A winless LN squad threw out their top three players in 1-2-3 singles (senior, senior, junior) and our guys (freshman, freshman, senior) just couldn’t match their strength and consistency. Arguably their best position, #2s, was the tallest orders tonight. William Pruitt/William Dietrick took advantage of a weaker doubles lineup and put away point after point at the night en route to a 6-2, 6-0 win. #2d Konvolinka/Martinez saw their second match in a row slip away. During the first set, in which they won 6-2, the two played smart agressive doubles. Their momentum slipped away as they relaxed, then got tight, and missed key service opportunities as they dropped the next two sets 3-6, 2-6.

#1s freshman from Cathedral, whoa. The sound of his ball was on a different level, but so was the humility. We learned a lot as a team from anyone who watched this court tonight. Proud of our freshman for knowing the rules, holding his ground, and calling a violation before coach even could late in the second set! #2s from the Irish was sick, but there were 13 other seniors on the roster that amply filled in. The big win of the night came from the #1d court of William Dietrick/William Pruitt. We also learned a lot from this match and will continue to use this drive us moving forward. What a great showing of support from our entire team, locked in cheering their teammates on, and they rushed the court afterwards! The good guys won 1-6, 7-5, 6-1. We could see this team two more times this season at this position, and the next two matter even more. We know we can do it, we just need to stay poised.

Five varsity courts and the guys lost only one total game in ten sets. The Raiders were overcome by speed and a Trojan team motivated to get better. Each guy reported something unique to their own game that they would practice and improve during the evening. That focus helped the Trojans to their most dominant team performance of the season. The freshman learned coaches favorite sequence and got to practice it a little pre-match. Let’s hope they remember when the going gets tough heading into the weekend!

As a rater, I’m putting Whiteland into the top 25 after seeing them play today. They came out and swept us just like a top 25 team would do. Our singles were tentative against strong players during the opening round. In warm ups, it didn’t look this lopsided. But, when it came to pressuring Whiteland and executing high percentage shots while limiting errors within our #1s and #2s matches, we were shown off court 0-6, 1-6 and 0-6, 0-6 respectively. In his first singles match of the year, #3s William Dietrick hung around against a solid freshman and the coach’s son, dropping a 2-6, 2-6 decision. Martinez/Konvolinka got their first taste of what life is like at #1d and I’d guess they’ll report they are happy to be playing #2d! We need to be convinced we are best when playing two up, but against a hard hitting smart doubles team that likes to be two up and is already convinced of that, we fell 1-6, 0-6. I think the best thing these two can do is work on their serves and first volleys. If we can get them stronger in both of those departments, the close matches remaining in our schedule might start to fall our way. #2d Charlie Park/Jamie O’Brien saw their first varsity doubles court of their careers today and we hope they stay hungry enough to make another appearance!

This is the first team win against the Patriots.
2020: 0-5. 2019: 0-5. 2018: DNP, Rainout. 2017: 0-5. 2016: 2-3. 2015: 1-4.
Congrats, boys! I don’t think we realized the gravity of this match while in it! Winning courts were as follows:
#1s Gavin Guffey 6-4, 6-4. In what might be a school record, if not IHSAA record, Gavin served out the first set with the final point culminating in a 104 shot rally. Some shots, the wind might have blown harder than the ball speed, but my oh my, when the going gets tight, the tight get going! He was the deciding point after it was all tied up 2-2.
#2s Matthew Haas upended a senior and kept his cool on the way to a 6-3, 6-4 win. He did a really nice job using his lefty forehand cross court and lefty slice serve to his neutralize his opponents backhand. The guy kept a consistent slice ball back in play, but had a hard time actually hurting Matthew with it. Instead, Matthew would force him on the run and into making an error.
#1d William Dietrick/William Pruitt took home a dominating 6-2, 6-0 win. These guys were happy to be back on court together, I think their cycles are even starting to sync!
Courts that fell were as follows:
#3s Charlie Park had a heart breaker match fall against him 6-2, 2-6, 7-10. It meant a lot to coach to see how much this kid was invested in his match. He has gotten so close, so many times this year. I’m confident what he’s learning at #3s right now, will really make for a great career as he develops his game and grows into an upperclassman.
#2d Konvolinka/Martinez fell in an equal heartbreak 1-6, 6-4, 12-14. The two came back from a remarkable 6-9 deficit in the tiebreak to win four straight points. After having a match point up 10-9, you thought the storybook ending was going to go our way, and they got just a little bit rattled with a call. It’s the beauty and frustration of our sport, tennis can be such a head game. With lack of officials on court, pretty tough to tell whether that call was accurate. No matter what, you have to be willing to implore a tennis players greatest ability, and that is the ability to forget. What is out of your control, is just that, it is out of your control. Step up to the line, focus on what you can that very next point, on your half of the court and get to work. Make sure one point doesn’t end up costing you more. Nonetheless, they did a great job mentally rebounding. They’re 0-3 in three set matches this year, and we expect that all that does is make them grow in your game because they get tired of feeling this way!

#1s William Pruitt 4-6, 4-6 in a valiant loss. #2s William Dietrick in a 6-3, 6-1 win. #3s Zach Engelman in a tough 0-6, 1-6 loss. #1d Matthew Haas/Gavin Guffey in a 6-0, 6-3 win. #2d Alex Konvolinka/Gabe Martinez in a 6-0, 6-0 win.

Big outing for the Trojans in their quest for a defining season. A statement win at all positions tonight that cements a piece of the puzzle in place in the pursuit for city seeds. #3s Zach Engelman earned his first career varsity win this evening with a 6-1, 6-4 outing. Will be excited to see his match metrics when IBM Watson is finished with the calculations and final tallies. There should be a telling difference between set #1 and set #2. Solid play from singles players who went out and did their job. Doubles swept in dominant fashion. Go Trojans!

Heartbreaking loss tonight against a team we thought we could overtake. Trojan Doubles swept the evening with #1d first court off going to the Trojans. Second point bled away at #3s to Mt. Vernon as a sophomore proved to be a little more consistent than our senior. Third point swung back our way as #2d closed it up in a second set tiebreak, almost letting their guys back in it. Two courts left and BCHS just needed one to fall our way. #1s for Mt. Vernon was a pretty solid all around sophomore and got us pretty handedly. So, it comes down to #2s, frosh vs. frosh. All eyes on Haas as he must force a third set to draw back even…but it didn’t go our way dropping a 6-7(6), 5-7 match. Man oh man do we wish we could have that one back! We learn and grow one day better as our freshman are gaining invaluable match pressure experience.

Big 5-0 win against a much improved Scecina team. A transfer student from Brazil boosted their entire depth and gave us a nice run. We know exactly how that works because our two freshman allowed our roster to bump down two spots, Scecina only got a one bump! Gavin Guffey fought off a tight first set where his low and slow won the smoke-off 7-5, 6-0. With their former #1s playing #2, Matthew Haas had to grit out a 6-4, 6-3 win. William Pruitt was in at #3s cruising to his first singles win on the season. Alex Konvolinka & Charlie Park bumped up into #1d. Jamie O’Brien & Alex Fowler eagerly played at #2d getting some first varsity PT this year.

Oooh what a night (Cue the music!). A HUGE 3-2 win indoors. This will help define our City Tournament and conference standings as we preemptively squeezed this one in at West Indy on back to back rainy nights. Thank you Lucas! #1s for Heritage we are happy to see go as he was an orders of magnitude a greater competitor than last year. Wonder to think what another year of improvement out of him looks like and glad we don’t have to find out! Guffey will learn a lot from him as the 3+ ft of net clearance J. Lemming exhibited will be so essential for BOTH our frosh to continue to develop. Right now, they still need a little prodding to back away from the low and tights! #2s Haas faced off against a substitute for Tiernon tonight, edging out the Eagles in their pursuit of the team win. #3s Engelman was outgunned by the pace, consistency, and quickness of their sophomore. It will be interesting to see how Z. Lemming assumes the role of 2s player next year for Haas to take on, while Guffey navigates Tiernon.

#2s Haas 6-3, 6-1
#1d Pruitt/Dietrick 6-2, 6-4
#2d Konvolinka/Martinez 6-4, 7-5

Dadgummit. We just can’t get over the hump at New Pal. But, they threw out NINE seniors against us tonight on their senior night. Now, we didn’t win a single match at JV against their non-seniors, but they’ll all be moving up into varsity with little varsity experience…and we don’t lose a single player from the lineup we played tonight. Jean is a great coach, so we know she’ll have them ready. But, like any good Cubs fan, maybe there’s next year?!? We went 1-1 in tiebreaks, with Haas wanting that second set one back after streaking to an early and strong lead!

#1s Guffey (1-6, 2-6)
#2s Haas (3-6, 6-7(4))
#3s Park (5-7, 0-6)
#1d Dietrick/Pruitt (7-6(4), 6-4)
#2d Martinez/Konvolinka (2-6, 3-6)

Slightly disappointing finish, I know our guys felt the feels. If you would have asked us if only one position was playing for a city finals, we would have scoffed at you! Heritage Christian avenged their regular season dual match loss to us to upend us in three spots, rightfully earning their way to a 2nd place runner up finish. Covenant came out with a clean 4th place finish, although I had some disagreement about the singles lineup they used. All I saw, their #3s player was the best player in their singles line up on that single Saturday. #1d wishes they had their championship match back having a little more sleep running through their veins. #2d wishes they had that second set tiebreak back, and especially their third set.

#1s THREE SEED Guffey. Improved on a regular season matchup to go 6-0, 6-3 Rd. 2 vs. Scecina. Regressed on scores from a match just 48hrs earlier in his semifinal 2-6, 0-6 vs Heritage.
#2s TWO SEED Haas. Took home 6-0, 6-0 Rd. 2 vs. Ritter. Fought valiantly in a roller coaster of a Semifinal match 0-6, 7-6(5), 0-6 vs. Heritage (Tiernon back in).
#3s THREE SEED Engelman. 2-6, 3-6 Rd. 2 vs. one heck of a #3s player from Covenant.
#1d ONE SEED. Dietrick/Pruitt. 6-0, 6-0 Rd. 2 vs. Herron. 6-1, 6-0 Semifinal vs. Covenant. 2-6, 2-6 in City Title match vs. new combination of a cathedral doubles team.
#2d TWO SEED Martinez/Konvolinka. 6-0, 6-0 Rd. 1 vs. Shortridge. 6-3, 6-7(8), 2-6 in a heart stopping Semifinal vs. Heritage.

Team Results
Cathedral – 50
Heritage – 27
BCHS – 16
Covenant – 13
Scecina – 7
Shortridge – 7
Ritter – 4
Attucks – 3
Herron – 3
Tech – 0

10th varsity win of the season! Proud of these guys and what that means toward their dedication and their fighting spirit to tie together 10 wins. That’s a benchmark with our schedule and these guys just demonstrated that over a fantastic year. The conversations that we had regarding strategy and leadership were the very best I have been a part of. How well they reflected on their personal growth and turned that into a desire to be better people, better teammates, and better players was just a very humble process to be a part of.

#1s Guffey (6-0, 6-1)
#2s Haas (7-5, 6-7(5), 3-6)
#3s Engelman (2-6, 2-6)
#1d Dietrick/Pruitt (6-4, 6-2)
#2d Martinez/Konvolinka (6-1, 6-1)

We drew Scecina first round in coveted Sectional 48. Great first round appearance in the post-season. Boys state tournament always holds a special place to this coach. We get a feel for the big stage at North Central, with the boys earning a spot in the sectional final coming up tomorrow!

#1s Guffey (2-6, 6-0, 6-2)
#2s Haas (6-4, 6-2)
#3s Park (6-1, 6-2)
#1d Dietrick/Pruitt (6-2, 6-0)
#2d Martinez/Konvolinka (6-3, 6-2)

What an amazing end to the season. A beautiful day at #5 state ranked North Central. These guys better be hungry for next season. They saw what they can do today and that is hang with the best. We have the foundation in place to do something really special next year. Given maturity in the mental fortitude department (and that comes with putting yourselves in pressure match play positions), these boys could pull off a first in BCHS Boys Tennis Program history, a top 30 state ranking in 2022. I think we were just inside the top 45 this year. That’s something to be proud…if that doesn’t make you want to elevate this entire team to say you were a part of that, I mean come on man!

11 wins and some incredible character building that came from this year. We lose our one senior, and return the rest of the starting line up. Up on three…………..!!!

#1s Guffey (0-6, 0-6)
#2s Haas (2-6, 1-6)
#3s Park (0-6, 0-6)
#1d Dietrick/Pruitt (0-6, 0-6)
#2d Martinez/Konvolinka (2-6, 0-6)