September 20, 2017 at 2:27 p.m.
Hodag tennis in different role pursuing eighth GNC title
Hodag tennis in different role pursuing eighth GNC title
Either Antigo, which enjoys a four-point lead in the conference standings over Rhinelander, will become the first team to unseat the Hodags for the conference crown or the Hodags, in winning their eighth straight conference title, will become the first GNC school to come from behind in the conference tournament to win the championship.
How do the Hodags make sure they are on the right side of the historical footnote?
"By playing some darn good tennis," coach Bob Heideman said.
The odds are stacked against Rhinelander entering Saturday's meet. Both the Hodags and the Red Robins went 9-1 in Great Northern Conference duals but the Red Robins enter with 124 points to Rhinelander's 120, by virtue of a 5-2 victory over the Hodags Sept. 5 in Antigo. Each flight in each dual is worth two points. Antigo was 62-8 in the 10 conference matches. Rhinelander went 60-10.
"When you come in down four, what does it take? It takes a lot to win it," Heideman said. "I don't say that pessimistically. I say it being aware of the situation we're in."
This is completely uncharted territory for the Hodags who in previous years entered the conference tournament with a championship all but secured. For Rhinelander, 2011 was the last time a race was even close. That year Rhinelander entered with a 12-point lead over both Marshfield Columbus and Antigo, won the conference tournament proper and took the title by 14 points over Columbus.
"For me, what is in the front of my mind is in these years before, we would come in with substantial leads and I would worry about how we could lose the tournament," Heideman said. "Now, with being down four, I realize how hard it is to make up points."
Each flight will play a seeded, six-player tournament on Saturday. First place in each flight adds six points to a team's overall score. Four points are awarded for second, three for third and two for fourth. Placing well in each flight will be important for the Hodags, but so will individual seeding. In most flights, there's a significant drop off in resumes between the third- and fourth-best players, giving a decided advantage to whoever draws the top seed.
Both Antigo and Rhinelander figure to get high seeds in the four singles flights. Antigo went 34-6 in singles play during the conference season while Rhinelander was 37-3. Antigo's Maya Gaedtke (9-0) figures to have the inside track for the top seed at No. 1 singles. The same could be said for Rhinelander's Alex Oestreich (10-0) and Emma Roberts (9-0) at Nos. 2 and 3 singles. However, Antigo's Izzy Matuszewski (5-1) could be a wild card at No. 2 singles. She missed both duals against Rhinelander due to injury.
"Alex is going to come in 10-0, so do that many victories at No. 2 singles mean something or are they going to say, 'No, those scores mean more than the victories,'" Heideman pondered. "You get into situations like that where it's hard to predict how the coaches are going to vote."
No. 4 singles could be a bit of a toss up where Antigo's Adie Smith and Rhinelander's Kenedy Van Zile are each 8-1. Van Zile beat Smith 6-0, 6-2 when the two played Aug. 31 in Rhinelander, but Van Zile lost to Antigo's Avery Nicholson five nights later when the Robins bumped Smith up to No. 3 singles.
Doubles may be the key to the tournament. Antigo was 28-2 in doubles this year, compared to 23-7 for Rhinelander. Further complicating matters is the question of where Medford will decide to play its top players. The Raiders opted to play their best players in singles against Antigo and doubles against Rhinelander during the dual meet season.
Rhinelander's best chance at a top seed in doubles will come in the third flight, where the platoon of Jackie Wells, Savannah Chartier and Lisa White have gone 9-1 over the course of the conference season. The one loss was by Wells and Chartier to the Antigo tandem of Sam Belling and Jenna Lenzner, who are 4-0 together at No. 3.
"In doubles, we are going to be that two or three seed and we're going to go against (Antigo or Medford) in most of those situations I can think of," Heideman said. "The tournament has never come out as you might expect, or as seeded. There are surprises. I think our hope is, that with some good tennis, we can nudge those surprises our way and come out with a victory."
The Red Robins are gunning for their first girls' tennis conference title, and will do so on their home tennis courts on homecoming day for Antigo. While Heideman said the Hodags are still in the thick of the race, he conceded it's Antigo's title to lose, admitting the Hodags will likely need to win four or five individual flights to unseat the Robins.
"We're going to have to play that well, barring something huge," he said. "We're undoubtedly going to have to play our best tennis and maybe something else will have to happen, too. By that, I mean an upset somewhere with Antigo."
Play will get underway at 9 a.m. Saturday at the Ralph Elleson Tennis Courts in front of Antigo High School.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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