May 15, 2017 at 4:09 p.m.
'Four' the record
RHS boys' tennis team wins GNC tourney, conference title in record fashion
'Four' the record
Rhinelander put an exclamation point on its fourth consecutive conference title Saturday by taking first place in five of seven flights and winning the GNC tournament at the RHS tennis courts running away.
The Hodags needed only 28 points Saturday to lock up the conference title. They did 10 better, scoring 38, two more than the record Antigo set back in 2013. Rhinelander finished the season with 140 points, three more than the previous record it set in 2011 when there were two additional dual meets on the conference schedule.
"It feels pretty good, especially from the fact that they past few years we've had close rivalries with Antigo," said Markus Johnson, who cruised to the championship at No. 2 singles. "To be on top again feels pretty good."
The Hodags earned six No. 1 seeds prior to the start of the meet and never looked back. They clinched the conference championship when Johnson defeated Antigo's Andrew Turunen in straight sets in a semifinal match.
"We kind of built with the lead," RHS boys' tennis coach Bob Heideman said. "I think that kind of put us exactly how we hoped it would go, thought it would go. The kids played pretty well."
Johnson, Matt O'Melia and Russell Benoy claimed the second, third and fourth singles titles for the Hodags. All three recovered from slow starts in the semifinals. Johnson trailed Turunen by a break, 2-3 in the first set before reeling off 10 of the final 11 games in the match. He rolled over Lakeland's Vincent Yu 6-1, 6-0 in the finals.
"I just kind of decided at that I was just going to let loose and kind of just hit my strokes and not really face the consequences," Johnson said. "At this point, I was really ripping it and feeling good. It just translated to the second match."
O'Melia dropped the first set 3-6 to Antigo's Tanner Stueck in the semis before rallying to take the second set 6-0 and the super-tiebreaker 10-7. He went to down Medford's Alec Shear 6-1, 6-0 in the finals. Benoy won both of his matches in straight sets, beating Antigo's Tommy Blink in the finals 6-2, 6-1.
"Matt was just running his opponent back and forth. I think he basically won both sets it the first because I don't think they guy had anything left in the tank after that first set," Heideman said. "He's back in the groove after some matches. It was about a week ago Russell was in a match and I'm saying, 'Don't come to the net. You're losing points at the net because you can't put volleys away.' And, boom, there he was putting volleys away today. It's just another sign of improvement."
It was the third straight No. 3 singles title for O'Melia and his fourth overall after he took the No. 4 title as a freshman. Johnson has won three straight conference titles after winning the fourth flight of singles in his freshman and sophomore years.
Connor Young and Jared Haug made it back-to-back conference titles in doubles. After winning the third flight last year, the duo took the second flight this year, dropping only two games along the way.
"Certain positions, you come to assume they're just going to kind of play to their level of game and that's the one on our team," Heideman said of Young and Haug. "I mentioned after the Antigo match, I thought that was the matchup they just couldn't, if they switched their lineup, they just couldn't handle it. They beat those guys who our No. 1 team had trouble with. They just have a nice combination. Connor sets things up and Jared ends it. You add to that they really like playing for each other. They have a lot of confidence in one another. They're a good doubles team."
Marshall Bessette and Logan Oestreich held off the Antigo tandem of Brody Bunnell and Jake Waters 6-2, 7-5 for the championship at No. 3 doubles.
"No. 3 doubles played some good tennis," Heideman said. "It's interesting. If I had to vote right now, I would vote for either Jared Fabich or Logan Oestreich as far as the most improved players on the team."
Rhinelander nearly had a sixth conference champion, but Logan Wild's bid to repeat at No. 1 singles champ and conference player of the year fell short in a super-tiebreaker to Antigo's Tyler Husnick. Wild took the first set in a tiebreaker and had match point in the second set tiebreaker, but that tiebreaker swung on a series of three close line calls that all went against Wild. Wild fell behind 5-9 in the super-tiebreaker, then staved off three match points before falling 8-10.
"The heartbreaker of the day was Logan's, having match point, and ending up losing in the third-set tiebreaker," Heideman said. "On balance, though, Logan gives this program so much more than a loss subtracts. He's just a great kid and a good competitor and it just didn't go his way."
As anticipated, Antigo shuffled two of its top singles players this season to doubles for the conference tournament. Drew Schwarz and Ben Bartletti repeated as No. 1 doubles champs after knocking off the Hodag tandem of Jared Fabich and Grant Gilbert in straight sets in the finals.
"Even at No. 1 doubles, they lost 0-and-0, but I thought they played some good tennis," Heideman noted.
Rhinelander defeated Antigo 38-29 for the tournament title and bested the Red Robins 140-117 for the overall championship. Unlike the last few years, which have come down to the final few sets of championship Saturday between Rhinelander and Antigo, the Hodags had a strong upper hand this year, entering the tournament with a 14-point advantage following an undefeated conference dual season.
"Definitely the 14-point lead we had going in really helped us kind of securing it with just the first round," Fabich said." That was a great way to just relieve pressure. Practice was easier. We were able to focus more on our faults and, overall, it was better than last year and the year before."
Added Johnson: "We put in more work than anyone else. No matter what any team brings at us - whether Antigo stacks their doubles or singles, or Lakeland or Medford do whatever they want - it's just the fundamentals that we have that beat everyone else. I think we can credit that to coach Heideman."
The strong performance should also bode well for the Hodags ahead of the WIAA Division 2 subsectional, which Rhinelander will host May 22. Antigo, Lakeland and Medford are in that subsectional. The Hodags will play two more subsectional opponents Thursday in a non-conference invite at the RHS tennis courts.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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