April 25, 2018 at 1:37 p.m.
Hodag netters down Lakeland in opener
Hodag netters down Lakeland in opener
The Hodags swept singles play Tuesday and defeated Lakeland 6-1 in Rhinelander.
The match was played on the six auxiliary courts between Rhinelander High School and James Williams Middle School as Rhinelander's primary courts were not quite ready for play following a snowy first half of April.
"I'm sure all the spring coaches are saying the same thing, it is very exciting to be outside playing," coach Bob Heideman said. "To be ready a lot of people put in a lot of effort. I'd like to thank (activities director) Brain Paulson, RHS maintenance staff, parents and team members who worked Sunday and Monday to make this meet possible."
It was Rhinelander's first time outdoors this season, something Heideman said was apparent in Tuesday's play.
"Overall, a good start, but needless to say we saw a lot that needs to be cleaned up before West on Friday," he said.
The two returning players to Rhinelander's singles lineup, Markus Johnson and Russell Benoy, each moved up flights on Tuesday and picked up wins. Johnson, now in the top flight replacing the graduated Logan Wild was a 6-4, 6-4 winner over Lakeland's Aaron Peterson. Benoy, moving up to No. 2 singles after playing in the fourth flight last year, ground out a three-set win over Matt Holmes 2-6, 6-3, 6-3.
Heideman said both of Johnson's sets followed similar patterns with he and Petersen on serve until the ninth game. Johnson broke Petersen in the ninth game both sets to go up 5-4 and then closed out the sets during his subsequent service game.
"Markus kept the pressure on with his serve and showed signs of hitting aggressively," Heideman said.
Benoy and Holmes played the longest match of the day with Benoy finally prevailing following a change in tactics.
"Matt Holmes is a first-class retriever," Heideman said. "Russell took pace off his shots to play longer points and eventually work Matt out of position."
Freshman Jacob Weddle was a straight set winner over Tom Kepinger 6-2, 6-0 in the third flight while Freddy Wisner rounded out singles with a 6-0, 6-2 win for the Hodags over Lakeland's Gavin Thompson.
In doubles, Connor Young and Jared Haug rolled to a 6-1, 6-0 win over Sam Berger and Jayson Krause in the second flight while Logan Oestreich and varsity newcomer Cade Aschenbrenner were 6-1, 6-4 winners over Zach Kane and Alex Tucker.
Lakeland's lone win came in the top flight in doubles where Jack Garcia and Anthony Holmes defeated Jared Fabich and Grant Gilbert 6-2, 6-2.
The Hodags picked up a non-conference dual at Wausau West on Friday.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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