June 25, 2018 at 1:33 p.m.
Team review: RHS boys' tennis
Hodag netters continued GNC dominance this spring
Team review: RHS boys' tennis
On one hand, the Hodags defeated a deeper Great Northern Conference field in record fashion and had their first state tournament qualifier in a decade. On the other hand, the Hodags had a downtick in their overall performance in the WIAA state tournament, sending fewer flights to sectionals and going winless in the sectional round.
"So there was a little disappointment on the team, but it's a good thing," coach Bob Heideman said last month during the team's banquet. "I think that the Hodag standards remain high in terms that everyone wants to get there. It's a good thing."
Here are five storylines from the season.
Flying to five
The Hodags won their fifth consecutive Great Northern Conference title, and seventh in the last eight years, this spring. Their path to the title proved surprisingly easy.
Rhinelander went 8-0 in league play and cruised to the conference title by a record-margin of 53 points over Medford and Pacelli.
Pacelli replaced Phillips this season in the GNC, improving the overall depth of the conference, but no team in the league had anything for the Hodags. The closest call came May 7 when Rhinelander, playing with an injury-depleted roster, escaped Lakeland with a 4-3 win.
Two days later Rhinelander swept a doubleheader from Pacelli by matching 6-1 scores, putting itself in the driver's seat for the conference title.
"After that point, no one was going to catch us and we made short work of the conference," Heideman said. "At the conference tournament, we took five of seven flights and basically had clinched the conference without having to hit a ball, which is always a good feeling in terms of kind of freeing you from any pressure of having to win the tournament."
Rhinelander had a 38-point lead over Medford entering the conference tournament and mathematically clinched the overall league crown with bye points earned during the seeding meeting for the tournament.
The Hodags validated their large lead by winning five flights at conference, and placing second in the other two. Markus Johnson won the title at No. 1 singles. Jacob Weddle and Freddy Wisner took titles at the Nos. 3 and 4 flights. The teams of Grant Gilbert/Jared Fabich and Cade Aschenbrenner/Logan Oestreich won in the second and third doubles flights.
Playoffs
The Hodags hoped to parlay that conference success into the WIAA tournament as it hosted a subsectional round in Division 2 for the second straight year.
Rhinelander didn't quite match the success it had the previous year, however, advancing five of seven flights and finishing second in the eight-team event behind Appleton Xavier.
"I think a lot of programs would be sticking out their chest at that because so often you get down to sectionals and there are teams with only a coach and player and we bring this huddle of eight guys down there," Heideman said. "But, often times, things are viewed in relation to what happened the last year and last year we got all seven (flights) through."
Things didn't go much better for the Hodags at sectionals, where they failed to win a match, seemingly ending the team's season.
Johnson at state
That was, at least, until two days after sectionals when Johnson got a call from the WIAA and found out he had made the Division 2 state tournament as a special qualifier. With the invitation he became Rhinelander's first state qualifier since Rahul Jain in 2008 and the first Hodag to get a special invitation to the state tournament since 2001.
"Wednesday after the match, I was pretty heartbroken because I didn't want my career to end that way," Johnson said after receiving the exemption into the tournament. "Getting to end my career at the state tournament, there's no other way I'd want to end my career."
The at-large bid did Johnson no favors in the tournament draw, however. He ran up against eighth-seeded Alex Sviatoslavsky in the first round and was beaten 6-0, 6-0 by a player who eventually reached the state quarterfinals.
"Ultimately, he was just an incredible player and there was nothing really I could do," Johnson said. "There was no real strategy. He didn't really let me hit any winners. He didn't really make any mistakes. It was tough but definitely the second set I thought I hung in there and made it a match. I was happy with how I did."
Seniors
Johnson was one of five seniors on the RHS varsity roster this spring, all of whom left a mark on the program. Johnson, Jared Haug, Gilbert and Fabich all leave the program with multiple conference titles and multiple sectional appearances. Aschenbrenner, the fifth senior in the group, became a full-time fixture in the starting lineup this spring, teaming with Oestreich to win a conference title and advance to sectionals.
"They accomplished much - four conference titles and two years of advancing most of the team to sectionals, placing near the top each year," Heideman said. "They have set the bar high. They will be very, very hard to replace. They will be sorely missed as players and people."
What's next
Given those losses, Rhinelander's path to a sixth straight conference title likely will not be as easy as it was this year.
The good news is there will still be a decent core of senior leadership with the players returning, led by returning singles players Russell Benoy and Wisner and doubles players Young and Oestreich. Weddle will also return after posting a 14-7 record overall this season as a freshman at the No. 3 singles flight.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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