PREP BOYS TENNIS: Hostetler brothers lead Westview to state tournament
TOPEKA — As a child, Isaiah Hostetler loathed playing tennis. Presently, he and his more established sibling, Elijah, are driving the Westview young men tennis crew to its second state competition appearance in three seasons.
Junior Isaiah and senior Elijah are the No. 1 and negative. 2 singles players, individually, for the No. 16 Warriors. They will contend at those spots Friday when Westview plays No. 12 Jasper in the state quarterfinals around early afternoon at Center Grove High School in Indianapolis.
"I'm excessively aggressive to where I'd prefer not to play the game on the off chance that I realized I planned to lose," said Isaiah of why he didn't care for tennis when he was a youngster. "Along these lines, Elijah would beat me a ton of the occasions when we initially began going out and hitting. I recollect that I'd get truly disappointed that I was unable to keep the ball in when it seemed like it ought to be simple.
"I likewise truly adored perusing at that point, so a ton of times I'd prefer simply need to peruse inside than head outside and play tennis."
EARLY DAYS
The two siblings started playing at a youthful age, for the most part because of their dad, Marion. Their father played tennis in secondary school and passed along the adoration for the game to his children.
"When he had us, he generally needed us to go out there and hit, so as we fired growing up, he would take us out to hit," Elijah said. "Thus, we began getting into it."
Ultimately, both Isaiah and Elijah began improving at the game. The two siblings said they saw that they were acceptable at tennis during a middle school competition in Angola when they played well against players from schools like Homestead and Leo.
"The period of middle school sort of showed us we could be great since we scarcely at any point lost," Isaiah said. "My eighth-grade year, I didn't lose a solitary match, so that is the point at which I sort of acknowledged, 'Man, I can be somewhat acceptable at this game.'"
The two siblings were at the school in 2019, with Elijah being a sophomore and Isaiah a rookie. That season, Elijah was on the No. 1 duplicates group with junior Tim Brandenberger. In the interim, Isaiah was opened into the No. 3 singles spot.
Fueled by solid play at every one of the five positions, Westview went 25-0 on the way to a semistate title and the program's first state competition appearance. It would lose to No. 2 Columbus North in the state quarterfinals to finish its season with a 25-1 record, however it was as yet the best season in the program's set of experiences up to that point.
Isaiah recollects there being an alternate buzz encompassing his match when he was at state two seasons prior.
"Making light of at state, it was a major air; like the environment changed," Isaiah said. "It was a lot more significant. I played at the 3-singles spot and it just felt somewhat more tense and very significant, which bodes well."
Fostering THEIR GAMES
After one more provincial title in 2020, both Hostetler's went to chip away at further developing their games much more during the offseason. Now, Elijah had seen that his sibling had passed him as far as ability on the tennis court. Following quite a while of more seasoned sibling being superior to more youthful sibling, the more youthful one has turned into the more grounded player of the two.
"I resembled, 'Stand by, he's improving at this, and I'm playing these different games,'" Elijah said. "From that point forward, I just secured on tennis. Along these lines, junior year was really the primary year I just played tennis. It really helped me a ton; I improved. From junior year to senior year is the most development I've seen over that colder time of year and spring.
"I've improved from last year, so seeing Isaiah's inspiration and perceiving how hard he was functioning at it gave me a ton of inspiration to get as great as possible."
For Isaiah, he zeroed in this offseason on dealing with a couple various parts of his game.
"My net game and taking care of balls at the net: approaches, volleys, overheads," said Isaiah on what he dealt with most throughout the colder time of year and spring. "… I've generally been acceptable at ground strokes and holding the ball back in. I've been great at taking individuals' speed and utilizing it for my own potential benefit. As I began playing more vulnerable players, I thought that it is more diligently to make my own speed and crush the ball a smidgen and hit it harder. Thus, I've certainly dealt with that all offseason, from sophomore year to junior year.
"I feel like I've improved at placing players in tough spots and afterward shutting it off at the net."
All of that difficult work paid off for the siblings, as they have become two of the top individual players nearby. That work took care of this previous end of the week, when Westview beat Mississinewa in the semistate title to progress to the current week's state competition.
Isaiah was predominant in his match, winning 6-1, 6-2. In the mean time, Elijah had an agreeable success on paper, winning 6-4, 6-2. The manner in which the last game worked out, be that as it may, was emotional.
With the group driving 2-1 by and large, Elijah moved forward to serve for the semistate title. It would eventually take five title focuses, however the senior at long last made the right shots to dominate his match and dominate the group title.
On the sideline, Isaiah developed to some degree baffled realizing that the ultimate objective was in sight — just for his sibling to continue to postpone the occasion.
"All I was believing was, 'Elijah, it doesn't need to be great. It simply must be done,'" Isaiah said. "I realized he was attempting to have that ideal chance. I was remaining with several my companions, and we were somewhat practically giggling in a manner since we realized Elijah planned to win — we were 100% certain he was going to. However, the way that it recently continued to go into so many match focuses; we were simply sitting as eager and anxious as can be, going, 'Come on, Elijah. Simply get the point over with and win it and we can go to state.'"
Dark horse ROLE
Presently, they do will go to state for the second time in three seasons. Isaiah and Elijah are the main varsity players staying from that 2019 state-bound group, giving them the most experience on the list. Isaiah feels like his group is the dark horse going into the end of the week, for the most part due to the size of Westview contrasted with the wide range of various schools contending.
"We're playing against schools that are not twofold, but rather fourfold our size," Isaiah said. "We're playing against immense schools. … We're most certainly going in as the longshot, particularly since we're a more modest school with a more provincial foundation. We're certainly going down there as the longshots."
With this being Elijah's senior year, the excursion to state is substantially more unique. Having his sibling close by has simply added to the excursion.
"It's really a magnificent encounter going down as a senior since I will leave it off on this banger," Elijah said. "Having the option to leave off on this is super unimaginable, and I was unable to have requested a superior season or better group.
"What's more, the reality I will do it with my sibling simply improves it multiple times. Simply having the option to play directly close to him and feeling that association when we play on the court is truly great, and the reality I will leave secondary school with these recollections is simply mind boggling."
