May 18, 2018 at 5:44 p.m.
RHS 2nd in home quad, preps for tennis subsectionals
RHS 2nd in home quad, preps for tennis subsectionals
That trend continued Thursday as the Hodags split their matches and placed second in a home quadrangular meet. Rhinelander beat Shawano, a subsectional opponent, 5-2 in the first dual, but was swept by Ashland 7-0 in the championship round.
Though Ashland is not one of the teams coming to Rhinelander on Monday, the Oredockers have played several teams this season who are, which could hurt Rhinelander indirectly in the seeding.
"I don't know if any of the teams in the sub lost 0-7 to them," Hodag coach Bob Heideman said. "The implication being that it's maybe going to get a little murky as far as the subsectional is concerned at a couple positions."
All the close matches went against Rhinelander as they dropped three third-set super tiebreakers to Ashland and lost an extra-game set elsewhere.
At Nos. 3 and 4 singles, second-set comebacks were not enough for the Hodags. Jacob Weddle split a pair of 6-4 sets with Casey Hilts, before Hilts took the tiebreaker 10-8. It was a similar story for Rhinelander's Freddy Wisner at No. 4 singles. After splitting 6-2 sets he dropped the tie breaker to Rhett Hopper 10-4.
Rhinelander's No. 3 doubles team of Cade Aschenbrenner and Logan Oestreich was the only Hodag entry to win the first set against Ashland, but they ran out of steam in a 1-6, 6-4, 12-10 loss to David Wallis and Kyle Sapper.
"We ate some humble pie against Ashland," Heideman said.
With an altered lineup, Rhinelander had better success against Shawano. Markus Johnson, played No. 2 doubles in the first match of the day, while the Hodags were without Aschenbrenner and Jared Fabich due to testing in a match that began before classes were dismissed for the day at RHS.
Weddle and Wisner picked up convincing wins at Nos. 2 and 3 singles while the Hodags swept doubles from the Hawks. Johnson and Gilbert rallied for a three-set win in the second flight over Chris Black and Levi Johnson 6-7, 6-0, 10-7. Jared Haug and Connor Young cruised to the win in the first flight while freshman Joseph Heck partnered with Oestreich for a 6-3, 6-2 win in the third flight.
"We moved Billy Berwig and Joseph Heck up to varsity and they both showed signs of improvement," Heideman said of the Shawano match. Berwig was a 7-6, 6-2 loser to Cameron Kroll at No. 4 singles.
Rhinelander's results Thursday, coupled with a 5-2 loss to subsectional favorite Appleton Xavier on Tuesday could all mean a more difficult road for the Hodags, who are striving to repeat last year's performance at subsectionals and qualify all seven flights for Wednesday's sectional round in Kohler.
"I think that's going to be more difficult than it was last year. That's for sure. I think in a couple positions we'll be going uphill to achieve that," Heideman said.
That put more emphasis on the Hodags holding serve and playing well at Friday's Great Northern Conference tournament in Antigo, which concluded after deadline. The Hodags clinched the conference title Friday morning, earning enough points via first-round byes to mathematically eliminate Medford and Pacelli from title contention.
"The hope is that tomorrow we have a good day and kind of resolve some of these things with doing well," Heideman said following Thursday's matches.
Subsectional play will get underway at 10:30 a.m. Monday at the RHS tennis courts.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at jeremy@
rivernewsonline.com.
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