Goshen, IN — After nearly six hours of competitive tennis between Goshen College, Indiana Tech and St. Joseph’s College, most spectators at the Goshen College Tennis Complex yearned for more.
Mother Nature, apparently, had seen enough.
With the Goshen College Invitational in mid-swing and the tournament’s outcome still very much in doubt, heavy rains interrupted and then concluded activities, rendering the event’s results unofficial and halting a late Leafs’ push that was on the verge of making things interesting. At the time the precipitation came, Indiana Tech had a firm 4-0 lead over St. Joseph’s but only a narrow 2-1 advantage over Goshen. The Leafs, meanwhile, held a commanding, 4-2 lead over St. Joseph’s when the floodgates opened.
“Even though today’s tournament could not be completed and treated as two dual matches for each of the three participating teams, the near six hours of play did provide the competitive tennis I had hoped for,” said Stan King, Goshen head coach. “We tried some new doubles combinations which gave us some direction for future play, and I was generally pleased with our performance.”
Held first in the tournament schedule, all doubles matches were completed on the day. King’s three flights won one of the two matches at each position, led by senior Ashe Abebe and junior Sheldon Good’s 8-5 win over Indiana Tech’s Chris Cash and Mark Freiherr at the number three slot. Abebe and Good had dropped an 8-4 match to Tech’s duo just two days prior (click here for article).
“That was a bright spot for us today,” King said regarding Abebe and Good’s play. “I thought that Sheldon and Ashe worked especially well together in their win over Indiana Tech.”
That win was the Leafs’ lone doubles win over the Warriors squads on Saturday, as the Leafs dropped all three doubles matches to Indiana Tech Thursday afternoon. Senior Beakal Girma teamed with freshman Sashi Sabanathan for an 8-5 win over St. Joseph’s at number one doubles, while freshman Alex Dominguez paired with Good in an 8-6 win over the Pumas at the number two doubles position.
With only four singles matches completed on the afternoon — five were interrupted by the rain and six did not have the opportunity to even begin — Goshen collected two of a possible four points in the singles events that were finished. Sabanathan took an 8-5 win over St. Joseph’s Ishan Gohil in the number two flight, while freshman Chanuk Algama knocked out St. Joseph’s Ben Kalinowski 8-2. Meanwhile, sophomore Joel King was leading his match 3-2 and Dominguez tied at 7-7 when the tournament was permanently halted.
“Beakal Girma was coming back from a 0-5 deficit and brought his number one singles match with Tech’s Villavisencio to a 3-5 score when the rain came,” King said. “Sashi put together a nice 8-5 win over St Joseph’s Gohil, and Alex Dominguez was playing some great tennis in his number three singles match with Tech’s Yamamoto, a match called with the score at seven all. Joel King was off to a good start in his number four singles match with Tech’s Barger, and Chanuk Algama put away his number six St Joseph’s singles opponent with relative ease. It was disappointing not to finish this tournament, as I believe we had a very good chance at a dual match win against St Josephs and it could have been real close with Indiana Tech. I was happy with our play in exhibition matches where we were able to win one of two double matches and four of seven singles matches.”
Goshen will return to dual match — and Mid-Central Conference — competition on Tuesday, when the team will host Grace College. Match time is slated to begin at 4 p.m.
Team Scoring Results :
- match called due to rain
- Indiana Tech led St. Joseph's 4-0
- Indiana Tech led Goshen 2-1
- Goshen led St. Joseph's 4-2
Doubles:
#1 Girma/Sabanathan (G) def Ward/Gohil (SJ) 8-5
Villavisencis/Mattos (IT) def Girma/Sabanathan (G) 8-5
Villavisencis/Paulo (IT) def Ward/Gohil (SJ) 9-8 (2)
#2 Yamamoto/Barger (IT) def McNeary/Haynes (SJ) 8-1
Dominguez/Good (G) def Smith/McNeary (SJ) 8-6
Yamamoto/Barger (IT) def Dominguez/King 8-3
#3 Good/Abebe (G) def Cash/Freiherr (IT) 8-5
Cash/Freiherr (IT) def Smith/Belcina (SJ) 8-3
Ewbank/Haynes (SJ) def Good/Algama (G) 8-6
Singles:
#1 Jose Villavisencio (IT) def Brandon Ward (SJ) 8-1
Villavisencio (IT) leading Beakal Girma (G) 5-3
Ward (SJ) vs Girma (G) match not played
#2 Sashi Sabanathan (G) def Ishan Gohil (SJ) 8-5
Paulo Mattos (IT) leading Ishan Gohil (SJ) 1-0
Sabanathan (G) vs Mattos (IT) match not played
#3 Alex Dominguez (G) and Daniel Yamamoto (IT) tied at 7-7
Kris McNeary (SJ) vs Dominguez match not played
Yamamoto (IT) vs McNeary (SJ) match not played
#4 Brandon Barger (IT) def James Smith (SJ) 8-3
Joel King (G) leading Barger (IT) 3-2
Smith (SJ) vs King (G) match not played
#5 Richard Ewbank (SJ) def Sheldon Good (G) 8-5
Chris Cash (IT) leading Ewbank (SJ) 5-3
Cash (IT) vs Good (G) match not played
#6 Chanuk Algama (G) def Ben Kalinowski (SJ) 8-2
Mark Freiherr (IT) def Kalinowski (SJ) 9-8 (4)
Freiherr (IT) vs Ashe Abebe (G) match not played
Exhibition Doubles:
Haynes/Belcina (SJ) def Kauffman/Toews (G) 8-6
Algama/Bruck Shibru (G) def Evans/Sexton (IT) 8-6
Exhibition Singles:
Andrew Rayner (IT) def Jordan Kauffman (G) 8-6
Ben Toes (G) def Miguel Belcina (SJ) 8-6
Chanuk Algama (G) def Sean Evans (IT) 8-2
Bruck Shibru (G) def Bryan Sexton (IT) 8-2
Rayner (IT) def Toews (G) 8-2
Shibru (G) def Evans (IT)8-6
Sexton (IT) def Kauffman (G) 8-2
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Senior Ashe Abebe