Photos: Season Highlights | Goshen Invite
GOSHEN, Ind. – Expectations might have been lofty after the 2007 Maple Leafs took fourth at the MCC Championships and won the No. 1 doubles championships. After a 1-5 start to the 2008 season, however, those expectations had quickly faded for most around the program.
When Bethel won 4-of-6 singles matches for a come-from-behind 5-4 win over Goshen on September 16, frustration set in for tenth-year head coach Stan King and his team. Or maybe it just woke them up, because the Maple Leafs did not lose another team match the rest of the season.
After a clean sweep of Grace and Earlham at the Goshen Invitational, the Leafs came back with a 5-4 win at Marian on the strength of a three-set marathon victory by Chanuk Algama at the No. 5 singles spot.
Wins over Grace, Huntington, and Defiance gave the Leafs six-straight victories as they headed into the Mid-Central College Conference Championships as the No. 5 seed.
It was at the MCC Championships where the Leafs made their biggest splash. With four seeds heading into the flighted tournament, Goshen came out of the quarterfinals winning 6-of-9 matches.
While five of the Leafs’ runs stopped in the semifinals, junior Aaron Sutter – seeded fourth in the No. 3 singles bracket – took out Huntington’s top-seeded Jameel Brenneman 6-2, 6-1 in an exciting semifinal match. Sutter eventually fell to Indiana Wesleyan’s Carson Vandenbossche in the finals, but his run helped Goshen to seven points and a tie for third place at the season-ending event.
With a combined 19-9 record in singles play, junior Joel King and sophomore Sashi Sabanathan were selected to the All Mid-Central College Conference team. It marks the second-consecutive selection for Sabanathan and the second-straight year the Leafs have placed two players on the team.
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2008 Season News
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Sophomore Sashi Sabanathan