September 24, 2018 at 12:58 p.m.
The eighth is great
Hodags edge Antigo to win back GNC girls' tennis title
The eighth is great
Though the Rhinelander High School girls' tennis team had squandered most of its advantage over Antigo in the semifinals of the Great Northern Conference tournament, she knew a path remained for the Hodags to take back the conference title.
What the Hodag senior did not count on was that the conference championship would come down to the final point of the final match - and that she would be thrust firmly into the spotlight.
Roberts rallied from down a set, and down 2-6 in the super tiebreaker, to defeat Antigo's Ellie Kelly at No. 2 singles as the Hodags returned to their rightful place atop the Great Northern Conference on Saturday at the Lakeland Union High School tennis courts.
Though Antigo beat Rhinelander 32-30 in the tournament proper, the Hodags held off Antigo by two points, 114-112, in the overall standings to win their eighth conference title in nine seasons.
"I had expected it to be a little easier but, you've got to do what you've got to do, I guess," Roberts said, shrugging as her teammates continued to take pictures with the conference championship trophy behind her.
Roberts could afford to step away from the trophy for a moment. She was the first to get her hands on it, and rightfully so, after clinching the title for the Hodags. As the lights illuminated the LUHS courts following a marathon 9 1/2-hour tournament, Roberts' forehand winner down the left sideline gave her a 3-6, 6-4, 10-8 victory over Kelly that decided the 2018 GNC championship team.
That set off a crazy scene as Roberts sprinted off the court after shaking hands with Kelly and was mobbed by her teammates.
"I think this team is one of the best teams that we've had," Roberts said. "We're all very close with each other. We've been working very hard with each other this season, very competitive at practice. I think we're very motivated and I think that showed here today."
It's vindication for the Hodags, who saw a string of seven straight conference titles snapped by Antigo last year, and were behind the eight-ball again this year after the Red Robins beat Rhinelander 4-3 in a dual in Antigo on Sept. 6.
"This is as sweet of a conference championship as I can remember," coach Bob Heideman said. "I don't remember the drama like this. It's one to remember."
Despite the regular-season loss to Antigo, Rhinelander entered the day four points ahead of the Red Robins in the standings after Antigo was upset by Wausau Newman 4-3 last Tuesday. However, that lead practically vanished during a rough semifinal round that saw Rhinelander go 3-4, including a pair of upset losses.
Entering the championship round there was still a path for Rhinelander to take the title, but it was going to take a near-perfect round from the Hodags and a little help from Antigo. Rhinelander got exactly that, going 7-0 in the final round while Antigo went 2-5.
Roberts, Kenedy Van Zile and Kaylee Pontell won head-to-head matches against Antigo for conference titles at Nos. 2, 3 and 4 singles in the final round. The Hodags won the consolation matches, took third place in the four other flights, and got the break it needed to win the conference title outright when Pacelli's Mari Olson and Amanda Cisewski upset Antigo's Jenna Lenzner and Samantha Belling for the conference title at No. 2 doubles.
"I think they could have just succumbed to (saying), 'we've just lost it,' but they didn't," Heideman said. "This is where I give this team credit. They really stuck with it that third round. Antigo had kind of got the points they were going to get, basically, in that second round and in the third round, they struggled. We came through."
It was mission critical for the Hodags to knock off Antigo head-to-head in the three championship matches, with a four-point swing in the balance in each match.
That was easy for Pontell, a freshman, who finished the conference season undefeated at No. 4 singles with a 6-1, 6-1 win over Lakeland's Lorraine Hammes in the semifinals and a 6-0, 6-1 win over Antigo's Margo Kelly in the finals.
"That's just what she does," Heideman said. "She's (got) great eye-hand coordination and just takes care of business on the court."
It was also surprisingly easy for Van Zile. For the second year in a row, she avenged a loss to Antigo's Avery Nicholson during the dual meet season to win the conference tournament. Nicholson won a three-setter over Van Zile that proved to be the deciding match in Antigo's dual meet win over the Hodags earlier this month. Van Zile turned the rematch into a laugher, routing the Antigo sophomore 6-0, 6-1.
The game plan for Van Zile on Saturday was simple - play steady tennis, pin Nicholson to the baseline and force Nicholson into making errors. The plan worked to near perfection.
"I think it worked to my advantage and I think my slice shots, I really got her on those," Van Zile said. "She wasn't really expecting me to be able to do that."
"Kenedy was in control," Heideman added. "(Nicholson) could win points in a game, but couldn't put enough together to win and Kenedy kept the pressure on for a long match."
The conference title for Roberts at No. 2 singles was anything but easy. It started in the semifinals as she struggled to beat Medford's Grace Geiger 6-1, 5-7, 10-7. Roberts then fell behind 1-4 in the first set against Kelly.
"Emma's troubles, they started (in the semifinals). I've never seen her so upset and she kind of never recovered from that in the first set of the final," Heideman said.
Roberts broke Kelly's serve in the first game of the second set. Kelly drew back to on serve with a break in the eighth game, but Roberts got the break point back in the ninth and served out for the set in the 10th.
Kelly got off to a fast start in the 10-point tiebreaker, taking a 5-1 lead. Roberts fought back to within 6-5 before Kelly won two more points on her serve. At the same time on an adjacent court, Antigo had won a three-set match for first place at No. 3 doubles, taking away Rhinelander's chance to back into a share of the conference title, if Roberts lost.
Roberts responded to win the final five points and take the match. The rally started with a pair of Kelly errors into the net followed by three Roberts winners - a lob to the back corner that Kelly couldn't track down to make it 8-8 followed by a pair hard-hit winners down the line.
"She really didn't start hitting her stride until about mid-set of the second set in that final," Heideman said. "In one sense, the early lead worked against Antigo in that I think (Kelly) got a little overconfident. Emma came back, (Kelly) got a little tentative. The kicker is Emma hit two great shots at the end. She didn't give her a chance. Hat's off to Emma."
Roberts said the comeback was simply a matter of focusing and playing her game.
"I just played tennis, I guess," she said. "I just hit my best shots. I tried to keep the ball alive. I don't know I just played tennis."
The Hodags ended up 3-3 on the day head-to-head against Antigo, with all three loses coming in the semifinal rounds. Two of those loses were expected, based on the seeds. Third-seeded Alex Oestreich lost to second-seeded Maya Gaedtke at No. 1 singles while fourth-seeded Annika Johnson and Haley Seefeldt fell to top-seeded Abby Robrecht and Taylor Arrowood at No. 1 doubles.
The third loss was a shock to the system as top-seeded, and previously unbeaten in conference play, Jackie Wells and Savannah Chartier looked out of sorts in a 6-1, 6-1 loss to fifth-seeded Greta Parsons and Julia Westen at No. 3 doubles.
Those losses, coupled with a 6-3, 3-6, 7-5 loss for top-seeded Madi Losch and Alexis Pyrchalla at No. 2 doubles to Pacelli's Olson and Cisewski, painted a bleak picture for Rhinelander as it looked to avoid becoming the first team in GNC tennis history to relinquish first place in the conference during the league tournament.
That's when Roberts pulled Heideman aside and detailed what had to happen for Rhinelander to take the championship.
"If I hadn't done the numbers when Emma gave them to me, I would have thought we would have blown it at that time," Heideman said. "So we went around and let everyone know we've still got a chance at this. I think that was an important factor."
The Hodags rebounded in all four flights in the third-place matches. Oestreich fought through a rough start in the second set to beat Pacelli's Stephanie Vaughan 6-0, 6-4. Johnson and Seefeldt avenged a previous loss to Lauryn Strick and Mariah Leader, beating the Medford duo 6-1, 6-3. Losch and Pyrchalla rallied after losing a first-set tiebreaker to defeat Newman's Julia Welter and Ali Bennett 6-7 (2), 6-2, 6-4. Wells and Chartier got by Pacelli's Leah Shibilski and Tessa Rodgers, 6-4, 6-2.
The wins gave Rhinelander four additional points, which proved vital down the stretch.
"When it comes down to two points, any match we can talk about was the difference," Heideman said. "Those two matches, what I can think of is that they were the one seeds, they got beat and they came back. That's tough."
Rhinelander will play a non-conference dual against Ironwood, Mich. on Friday before hosting a WIAA Division 1 subsectional on Oct. 1. Those matches were the furthest thing from the Hodags' minds on Saturday night, however, as they relished in the glow of regaining the conference title in dramatic fashion.
Said Heideman: "As I get older, I do this to have stories and this is a great story."
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
Comments:
You must login to comment.