May 10, 2017 at 2:47 p.m.
Hodag netters beat Antigo 5-2 to finish undefeated in GNC
Hodag netters beat Antigo 5-2 to finish undefeated in GNC
The Hodags won a pair of three-set matches and defeated Antigo 5-2 Tuesday at the RHS tennis courts. The win rounds out an undefeated GNC season for Rhinelander and gives the Hodags a 14-point lead over Antigo heading into Saturday's conference meet in Rhinelander.
Rhinelander needed to take only two matches from the Red Robins Tuesday to enter Saturday's conference meet in first place. Each additional win afforded the team a little more breathing room in a conference race that's come down to the wire between the two schools in Rhinelander's last three conference titles.
"If we would have won 4-3, that's (a) 10 (-point lead)," Hodag coach Bob Heideman said. "That's good, but 14 is a lot of points. I never imagined that that's the position we would be in."
The Hodags already had three matches in hand as a pair of third sets began to play out in the top flights. Grant Gilbert and Jared Fabich secured the win in No. 1 doubles while Logan Wild needed a third-set tiebreaker to win at No. 1 singles.
Gilbert and Fabich took the first set 6-4 over Antigo's Andrew Turunen and Tommy Blink but dropped the second 5-7. The Hodag duo broke Antigo early in the third to go up 3-0 and cruised to a 6-3 victory.
"In No. 1 doubles, Antigo played two back - a little unusual formation especially at No. 1 doubles," Heideman said. "I give them credit, they lobbed from beginning to end and we hit a lot of overheads. Turunen's a really nice player and had a knack of knowing where to put the ball in doubles, but there's an old saying that lobbing can win you points but it will very seldom win you matches. Not that we won by much, but I think we just went with the odds, being at the net and playing overheads. I think, eventually, we won out on that account."
Wild played his third three-set match of the year against Antigo's Drew Schwarz and, this time, came through with a victory. Wild was unable to close out the previous two bouts with Schwarz, despite being up a break in the third set of both matches. It was almost deja vu for the Hodag senior as Schwarz rallied back from down 2-5 in the third for force a tiebreaker. Wild took a 6-2 lead in the tiebreaker and eventually closed it out 7-4 with a winner down the line.
"The match meant a lot and Logan has had a history of winning big matches for this team," Heideman said. "I think this will be a steppingstone no matter what lineup they play on Saturday. He limited his errors a little more and I think his overhead was a tad more consistent and he had some nice, instead of volleys just getting it back, he had some volleys that put Schwarz in a defensive position. Again, over the long haul, I think that it just worked out that he came out on top."
The Hodags dropped the longest match of the afternoon as Matt O'Melia fell in a three-set marathon to Ben Bartletti 6-2, 6-7 (5), 7-6 (8) that took more than 2 hours, 40 minutes to complete. It was the first loss for the Hodag senior in his Great Northern Conference career.
"I think what turned it is he drew Matt to the net and Matt didn't have a shot to kind of put the ball away," Heideman said. "That led to (Bartletti) getting another shot at it and winning the point. I think, ultimately, if I could change one thing, that would be it. Other than that, Matt's fight and his effort you can't criticize at all. It was a heck of a match."
The Hodags won a trio of matches in straight sets. Connor Young and Jared Haug defeated Brody Bunnell and Collin Scheldbauer 6-3, 6-4 in the second doubles flight. Marshall Bessette and Logan Oestreich completed the doubles sweep with a 6-2, 6-1 win in the third flight. Russell Benoy defeated Tanner Stueck 6-4, 6-1 at No. 4 singles.
"I'm very pleased with Russell having played in an important match and coming through, and Logan (Oestreich) and Marshall," Heideman said. "They feel part of it and I think that will pay dividends on Saturday, too."
Markus Johnson fell to Antigo's Tyler Husnick 6-4, 6-3 at No. 2 singles.
It was the third meeting of the season between the Hodags and the Red Robins and Rhinelander's results have improved each time. Rhinelander lost 4-3 to Antigo in a non-conference match in Wausau April 8. The Hodags turned the tables with a 4-3 win in Antigo April 28. Now Rhinelander sits in the driver's seat for its fourth straight conference title and fifth in the last six years.
"(Antigo coach Dave Zalewski) has thrown three different lineups at us so he's searching for some formula that's going to turn the corner and I think this backfired a little bit on him in that. I'm not 100 percent sure we're going to win conference - this was a big step toward doing it - but I think if he would have gone the other way, he might have lived to fight another day," Heideman said. "This may have really dealt his team kind of an insurmountable lead. It may not play out that way, but this surely has put them behind the 8-ball."
Saturday's conference tournament gets underway at 9 a.m. at the RHS tennis courts.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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