Tuesday saw the Maple Leafs Men’s Tennis team host Mid-Central College Conference opponent Grace College just three days after hosting Grace at the Goshen Invitational on Saturday. In what was destined to be a close match, the Maple Leafs battled hard against the Lancers, but fell in the end 5-4.
The match came down to the last two singles matches, featuring junior Chanuk Algama and freshman Daniel Buschert. While both Algama and Buschert dropped their first sets, they both looked confident in the second sets of their respective matches. Algama easily won his second set 6-1, and then won the final three games of the third set to win his match. “Chanuk is showing a lot more confidence and determination in tight singles matches this year which is a real plus for the team,” said head coach Stan King.“Daniel came back from a 5-2 deficit in the second set to make it 5-4 and gave Goshen some hope for a win, but he couldn’t get that next game, resulting in the loss of that fifth team point,” King said.
Unfortunately, the Maple Leafs couldn’t pull out a victory this time. King was still upbeat. “Grace is especially strong at one and two singles and one doubles,” he said. “While we lost all three matches, I am proud of the way our seniors fought for points. They made it closer today than they did last Saturday against the same opponents.”
Junior Jordan Kauffman agreed with King’s assessment. “Grace is really strong this year. We put it all out there, and we played our best,” he said. “It will be really interesting to see how they match up against Indiana Wesleyan University.”
