August 9, 2017 at 12:30 p.m.
Lots to sort out for RHS netters
Short time for Heideman, new-look Hodags to set lineup
Lots to sort out for RHS netters
It certainly will be for the Hodags, who are gunning for their eighth straight Great Northern Conference title but will enter the season looking to replace seven seniors from last year's starting lineup.
While Heideman figures somewhere between 15 and 17 of his 25 players have a legitimate shot at playing varsity this year, the trick is figuring out who will play where, considering Rhinelander has only its starters at Nos. 3 and 4 singles, and No. 3 doubles from last year, returning.
There's little time to waste figuring out the lineup as the team hosts Wausau West in a scrimmage Saturday and then travels to West for a two-day invite beginning next Monday.
That's why Heideman said the team spent much of Tuesday playing against each other before sorting into rough varsity and JV groupings Wednesday as the process of retooling the lineup began.
Heideman added he especially wanted to being pairing doubles teams together Wednesday so they can begin to establish some chemistry before Monday's opener.
"We have two doubles teams, four players, to put together," he said. "It's not like the year before where Erica (Counter) and Ali (Schickert) played together and just moved up (from No. 3 to No. 1 doubles). There's not an analogous situation to that. We don't have a doubles team just ready to move in. It's new players playing with each other, so they've got to play with each other (in practice). That's what we'll be doing the next couple days."
Toward the end of Tuesday's practice, the team played a number of short five-point games, with the winners moving up the ladder to challenge stronger opponents and the losers sliding down the ladder. Heideman said this team's youth was apparent during those challenges.
"Those seven seniors we had are gone and I think how it manifests itself the most was that even just playing amongst ourselves, with just a little pressure, players got tentative," he said. "With many of those seniors with three, four years behind them, there wasn't that. There was a confidence bred from a lot of competition. I think that's something we're going to be dealing with, with this team. A lot of times having critical wins, or at least strong showings, early on can affect their confidence a lot."
While roughly two-thirds of the team jockeys for the 10 varsity starting spots, Heideman said equal attention will be given to teaching the eight newcomers the basics in the hopes that they may be varsity contributors by their junior or senior seasons.
"I really meant it when I said to the new people (at the end of practice) that they are going to be people on varsity this year who where in their position one or two years ago," he said. "They've worked hard and you can get good (in that time). Hopefully, that's what we'll be about."
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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