Gettysburg, PA — After a match with Lebanon Valley College was postponed on Wednesday, Messiah travelled to Gettysburg College on Thursday, dropping a 9-0 decision. The older, more experienced Bullets (6-3, 5-0) handled the Falcons with relative ease, despite Messiah's persistence.
Although the Falcons lost all three doubles matches, the level of play varied.
Second doubles took only one game from their opponents, while first doubles of junior Andrew Wismer and sophomore Justin Meckley battled through, falling just short 5-8.
Third doubles of sophomore Nathan Shertzer and junior Luke Sisson came out to a strong 3-1 lead before falling 8-4.
“We started out playing really well,” said sophomore Shertzer. “I think that we just lost hold of the momentum and struggled to get it back.”
“Our doubles matches relied a lot on being able to hold serve,” Wismer said. “When we were unable to continue doing that, it put a lot more pressure on our doubles teams.”
Singles play brought much of the same persistence, only to drop all six flights to the Bullets. Wismer (first singles) and freshman Dave Wichert (third singles) fell 6-0, 6-0, though not without a fight.
Sophomores Meckley and Derrek Hoffer fell short, each taking home three games apiece. At fourth singles, sophomore Freddie Behnke fell 6-1, 6-1.
Sisson (fifth singles) rallied back to have the closest of the Falcons' (3-7, 1-0) singles matches. After dropping the first set 6-1, Sisson began to work his way back into the match with clever tactics and hard-fought effort. He leveled the second set to 5-5, before eventually falling 7-5.
“I was very impressed with how Sisson played today,” Messiah assistant coach Jon Arosell said. “He stayed in every point, adapting his game and fighting through to the end.”
“They outplayed us today,” Messiah head coach Sheila Bush said. “While it is hard to lose these non-conference matches, we need to pick out the positives in our playing and use them to build us up as we head into more of our conference matches.”
Messiah will return to league play against Albright on Saturday. Match time is set for 1 p.m. on Criste Courts.
