October 17, 2018 at 12:24 p.m.
Roberts named RHS girls' tennis MVP
Roberts named RHS girls' tennis MVP
Emma Roberts took home the honor, as voted by her teammates, during the team's season-ending awards banquet Sunday at Holiday Acres Resort.
Roberts' super tiebreaker victory over Antigo's Ellie Kelly in the No. 2 singles championship at the Great Northern Conference meet clinched the conference title for the Hodags in dramatic fashion. She went 22-5 on the season, but no win was as big as that one.
Coach Bob Heideman said Roberts' day at conference was a microcosm of the day for the Hodags as a whole. She struggled to a three-set win in her semifinal match and then dug down deep to rally past Kelly in the last match of the conference tournament.
"You dream about conference championships, being the last one and it coming down to you, but then to have the wherewithal to come back from that is quite an accomplishment, and I think that's part of the reason why your teammates voted you most valuable player," Heideman said, addressing Roberts at the banquet.
The Hodags went 22-4 in dual meets and advanced to sectionals in two flights, but the conference championship - Rhinelander's eighth in the last nine seasons - was the team's crowning achievement.
"This was not a run of the mill season," Heideman said. "These girls did something that has not been equaled. We've recounted much about the conference title. That's a story for the ages."
Several times during the banquet, the conversation returned to the way the Hodags won conference, despite losing to Antigo 4-3 in a dual meet and despite being outscored by the Red Robins in the tournament proper. It even came up when Heideman offered his thank-yous for the season.
"My first thank you is to Wausau Newman. My second is to Pacelli's No. 2 doubles team," he quipped, referencing wins by other teams over Antigo at the conference tournament that helped the Hodags secure a two-point victory in the final standings.
The Hodags' four seniors - Roberts, Seefeldt, Chartier and Alexis Pyrchalla - received awards for being the captains. While the Hodags needed a little help, Heideman said the seniors were the driving factor behind this year's conference title.
"I don't think they liked losing to Antigo," he said, referencing Rhinelander's second-place finish in the GNC to Antigo the year prior. "It was that (mindset that), 'We have to step it up a little bit.' I think that's exactly what they did and the other people followed that lead in their own, individual ways and it produced a conference championship."
The Hodags handed out several other awards during the banquet. Chartier, who went 25-4 at No. 3 doubles with teammate Jackie Wells, won the Ms. Hustle award. The No. 1 doubles team of freshman Annika Johnson and Seefeldt earned the Three-Setter Netter award for having the most three-set victories on the season. Junior Jaiden Thiel, a varsity reserve player, was voted the team's most improved player. She, along with other varsity reservists Izzy Haverkampf, Kathryn Borski and Lisa White, went a combined 86-4 in exhibition matches this fall.
"We are losing four seniors, so there's no coincidence there that they can step in and fill the void being created by those seniors," Heideman said.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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