Sept. 03--The rain stopped and the courts dried out in time for the Goshen Redskins to host the Northridge Raiders in a Northern Lakes Conference high school boys tennis match Thursday at Goshen Middle School.

The Raiders captured two singles matches and one doubles contest for a 3-2 victory.

"Earlier in the day I didn't think we were going to be ale to play," Goshen coach Daniel Love said. "But the rain held off and we got the courts dried. We worked on them for about an hour. The sun coming out and the wind picking up helped in the drying."

Northridge coach Evan Atkinson said, "I had written this match off earlier in the day, but the athletic directors got together and saw a break in the weather so we got it in."

Each team will be back in action tonight as Northridge (3-3, 2-0 NLC) hosts Elkhart Central and Goshen (2-7, 0-2) entertains Fairfield.

The Redskins won a thriller at No. 1 doubles as senior Johnny Tan and junior Drew Hostetler outlasted senior Dave Long and junior Alex Thielking 6-3, 2-6, 6-4.

The Goshen pair were up 3-0 and 5-2 in the final set.

"They are proving themselves to be OK with taking matches to three sets," Love said. "They have a bit of a streak going after winning a tough match the other night at Warsaw. But they made this one a little closer than needed. It's nice to get a win at a tough spot like No. 1 doubles.

"All season long our focus has been on taking advantage of opportunities. They had some opportunities they didn't take advantage off but in the end executed when they needed to."

Atkinson said, "That match is kind of the way our season has been going. We win three games then lose a couple. We need to be more consistent. We are getting better.

"One thing Long and Thielking will never give up. Goshen has a good No. 1 doubles team. They practiced during the off-season and it showed tonight."

Northridge notched the first point of the match as senior Nick Myers downed senior Stefan Baumgartner 6-1, 6-1 at No. 1 singles.

"Nick is having a fantastic season," Atkinson said. "He is loose and having a lot of fun. He slowed up in the off-season and didn't play in as many tournaments. Instead he took some lessons. I think that has taken some of the pressure off him and he is playing better tennis."

Love said, "Myers is a great player, having a great season. I'm proud of Stefan. He never gave up. He tracked down as many balls as he could and that is all you can do against a player like Myers."

The Redskins then tied the match as junior Seth Koble posted a 6-2, 6-3 win at No. 2 singles over sophomore Chris Robbins.

"Seth did a great job," Love said. "He excels at defensive tennis. Robbins is a very attacking type of player. Seth hits a lot of balls in and keeps a lot of long points going. He can frustrate players by doing that."

Northridge went up 2-1 as freshman Josh Garfein won 6-2, 6-2 over sophomore Adam Bratten at No. 3 singles.

"Josh has stepped things up," Atkinson said. "He is a consistent player and is becoming a point we can count on. It helps to have another player besides Myers that we feel we can count on to score a point for us."

Goshen's other point came at No. 2 doubles as juniors Eli Metzler-Prieb and Paul Johnson defeated juniors Alex Radelich and Doug Jakubowicz 6-4, 6-2.

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