Elizabethtown Does It Again, Ends Messiah Streak With 5-4 Dealing
Posted: 4/18/2009
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While Messiah's streak was snapped, sophomore Jansen Hein's was not.

Grantham, PA — Call it the four-year curse of the Blue Jay.

Messiah dropped its first regular-season conference match in its last 22 outings Saturday, falling to Elizabethtown College by a 5-4 score at the Messiah College Tennis Complex.

The loss bumps the Falcons to the number two seed in the upcoming MAC Commonwealth Conference Tournament, while Elizabethtown (9-2, 5-0) earns the top seed via its unblemished regular-season mark within league play.

For Elizabethtown, it was a case of history repeating itself, as Messiah’s last regular-season conference loss came at the hands of the Blue Jays — by the same 5-4 score on nearly the same day: The Falcons’ last loss to E’Town occurred April 19, 2005.

“We’re disappointed not to win, obviously,” said Sheila Bush, Messiah head coach. “But today we learned some things that may help us (in the upcoming conference tournament). Our doubles play let us down today. The boys redeemed themselves in singles, but the damage in doubles was too much to overcome.”

As was the case in the ’05 match, Messiah (8-7, 4-1) dropped two of the three doubles matches to Elizabethtown on a gorgeous Saturday afternoon. Sophomore Jansen Hein and senior Sam Shorts cruised to an 8-1 win over E’Town’s Manrique Arrea and Jonathan vanden Ende — a duo that entered the day unbeaten within league play — but the Falcons’ number two and three pairings struggled to 0-8 and 2-8 losses.

“We made an abundance of errors (in the two and three doubles matches),” Bush said. “I told the guys we were beating ourselves and we deserved better. Errors were hurting the team as a whole and not just them individually. We needed to get down to business and play like we knew we could play.”

Messiah would respond in singles play, as Hein led the charge. A 2-6, 6-1, 6-4 decision over previously unbeaten-in-conference-play Arrea provided some of the most dramatic tennis on the day, as Hein moved to 9-0 all-time within MAC Commonwealth singles competition.

“Manrique is a great player that took away a lot of my strengths,” Hein said. “I had to be creative with my game to pull out the win. It wasn’t pretty, but this probably has to be the biggest win of the season for me.”

A pair of freshman — Andrew Wismer at number five and Adam Sheir at number six — pulled Messiah to an eventual 4-4 score, as Wismer knocked off vanden Ende in an 0-6, 7-6 (7-3), 6-2 thriller while Sheir took out the Blue Jays’ Brian Osborn in a 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 see-saw affair.

As Shorts suffered just his second league loss at the number two singles position (a 6-4, 7-6 (7-5) decision to E’Town’s Brok Walker and freshman Mike Elliott dropped a two-set match at number four, the team decision would again come down to junior Luke Ruch’s match at the third singles flight.

That was nothing new for Ruch, as the Hatfield, Pa. native had defeated Lebanon Valley College’s Tom Neckelmann just two days earlier to pull out a 5-4 decision over the visiting Dutchmen.

Saturday, however, Ruch was not as fortunate.

E’Town’s Jeff Kirkhoff responded from a 6-3 loss in the first set to claim a 6-2, 7-5 marathon decision, keeping Messiah off the winning side by the slimmest of margins.

And while Ruch was the last player on the courts once again, it was the first events of the day that remained etched in Bush’s mind.

“We have some things to work on, primarily being more competitive in doubles,” she said. “The boys redeemed themselves in singles, but we can’t make the kind of mistakes we made in doubles and expect to win. It was neat to see our freshmen (Wismer and Sheir) come out of their shells and bring wins for the team. When we needed them the most, they came through. We are excited for them to take that confidence into the conference tournament next weekend.”

Messiah will compete in the MAC Commonwealth Conference Tournament next Saturday and Sunday, and will initially face third-seeded Lebanon Valley. The winner of that match will then face the winner of top-seeded Elizabethtown and fourth-seeded Arcadia University on Sunday. All matches will take place at the Hempfield Sports Complex in Landisville, Pa.

The Falcons will first round off their regular-season with two non-conference matches this week, as Messiah will host Neumann College Tuesday at 3:30 p.m. and Lancaster Bible College Thursday at 3:30 p.m.