September 10, 2018 at 1:25 p.m.
Hodag netters rebound with 7-0 sweep of Columbus
Hodag netters rebound with 7-0 sweep of Columbus
A day after dropping a 4-3 decision at Antigo, the Hodags responded in a resounding manner, dropping only three games in a 7-0 sweep of Marshfield Columbus at the RHS tennis courts.
Technically, the win moved Rhinelander into first place in the GNC standings, 10 points ahead of Antigo, but the Red Robins have played one fewer match than the Hodags. With 14 points up for grabs in each match, coach Bob Heideman said the onus is on Rhinelander to keep applying the pressure on Antigo.
"A big piece of the puzzle (in terms of the conference race) fell into place against Antigo and now we're refocusing on what needs to be done in relation to what happened at Antigo," he said. "The fact of the matter is, is our margin of error is very slim. But, I think the girls are buying into it and it was a good match."
The Hodags showed no sign of a hangover from Thursday night's loss, dispatching the Lady Dons in less than an hour. In singles, Alex Oestreich earned a 6-2, 6-0 win in the top flight over Taylor Tolppi. Emma Roberts and Kenedy Van Zile were 6-0, 6-0 winners at Nos. 2 and 3 while Kaylee Pontell picked up a forfeit win at No. 4 team against a Columbus team that had only nine players on its roster.
"I'd say Alex Oestreich used a little more of her slice game to bring the opponent up to the net. I think that was effective," Heideman noted.
Annika Johnson and Haley Seefeldt dropped a game in the second set at No. 1 doubles against Columbus' Anna Fischer and Corinne Voss. That was Rhinelander's only blemish in doubles. Alexis Pyrchalla and Madi Losch were 6-0, 6-0 winners in the second flight. Ditto Jackie Wells and Savannah Chartier at No. 3.
"Madi and Alexis kept their errors down," Heideman said. "Jackie Wells served well tonight. I didn't see any double faults. And I thought Savannah was her usual on-the-spot, in position (self). Even with these scores she was working hard to do that."
On paper, Rhinelander was clearly superior to Columbus on Friday. From there, Heideman said for his team it was a matter of playing the game and maintaining focus.
"As the scores came in, we didn't have second-set letdowns," he said. "In that sense, we didn't play to our opponent. We stayed at a pretty constant level."
The Hodags host Pacelli today and travel to Lakeland Thursday in Great Northern Conference play. The team enters the week knowing it likely needs to run the table, and have Antigo slip up in a couple of individual matches along the way, to put itself in position to be even with or ahead of Antigo entering the GNC meet Sept. 22 at Lakeland.
"I think we have the easier schedule between us and Antigo. We want to keep the pressure on, winning tonight 7-0, beating Pacelli 7-0 and beating Lakeland 7-0. Then Antigo's basically's got to do the same to maintain," he said. "We're trying to control as much as we can control."
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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