May 4, 2018 at 12:35 p.m.
RHS tennis alters lineup, beats Medford 5-2
RHS tennis alters lineup, beats Medford 5-2
The Hodags swept singles and won an important match at No. 1 doubles to knock off the Raiders 5-2 at the RHS tennis courts.
It was Rhinelander's second win over Medford in three days, following a 7-0 sweep of the Raiders Monday in Medford. Both sides had altered lineups on Tuesday with Medford stacking its doubles lineup and the Hodags moving Markus Johnson from No. 1 singles to No. 2 doubles due to a sore shoulder that hampered the Hodag senior's ability to serve overhand.
"Medford came in with the lineup that they will enter in the tournament which means they stacked their doubles team," RHS coach Bob Heideman said. "That was good news for us as a whole but it meant that conference and tournament seeding was on the line. On our side, we are a little nicked up which caused some line up changes."
The shuffle elevated Russell Benoy and Jacob Weddle to the top two spots in the Hodags' singles lineup. Both handled the promotion well and earned straight-set victories. Benoy was a 6-3, 6-3 winner over Sterling Reilly and Weddle beat Zach Kawa 6-2, 6-0.
"Jacob Weddle has settled in as a varsity player," Heideman said. "He has a fundamentally sound game and match after match forces the opponent to beat him, he will not beat himself. He moved up to No. 2 singles and was not phased.
"Russell moved into No. 1 singles and won. That should be noted. Many players go through their entire career and never get a win at No. 1 singles."
Jared Fabich slid out of doubles to the No. 3 singles spot, where he picked up a 6-4, 6-1 win over Riley Kleist.
"It took him a set to figure out he could put his doubles game to good use in singles," Heideman said. "After that he was OK and took care of business like he been playing singles all along."
Freddy Wisner completed the singles sweep for Rhinelander with a 6-0, 6-3 win over Tahyankka Damm in the fourth flight.
Connor Young and Jared Haug added a convincing 6-4, 6-1 win over the Hodags in the first doubles flight, in what Heideman called their best match of the season.
"They are finding their way at No. 1 doubles," he said. "As you go up the ladder different things work or don't work and there's a learning curve. They took a step on that curve."
Johnson, playing with Grant Gilbert at No. 2 doubles, fell to Alec Veal and Trentin Messman 6-7, 2-6. Cade Aschenbrenner and Logan Oestreich fell in a third-set tiebreaker to Medford's Logan Searles and Armin Kliewe 3-6, 7-5, 6-7.
The Hodags are in Wausau this weekend for an invite that began yesterday with dual meets against Wausau East and Green Bay Southwest. Rhinelander travels to Lakeland on Monday.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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