September 27, 2019 at 3:42 p.m.
RHS looks to wrap up 9th GNC girls' tennis title in 10 years
Hodags hold 10-point lead entering today's GNC tourney
RHS looks to wrap up 9th GNC girls' tennis title in 10 years
The RHS girls' tennis team is in prime position to capture its second straight Great Northern Conference championship - and ninth in the last 10 years - as it hosts the GNC tournament today. Realistically, the only team standing in the Hodags' way is Antigo.
That's nothing new. Two years ago Antigo interrupted Rhinelander's GNC dominance by winning the conference crown. The Hodags wrestled the title back from the Red Robins last year in a conference race that came down to the final match of the conference tournament.
The path to the title appears a little easier this time around for the Hodags, who come into today's tournament 10 points ahead of the Robins in the standings.
"This is what I think it boils down to - Antigo needs near a perfect day, I think, to win it. We need a good day," Rhinelander coach Bob Heideman said. "Either one can happen so we've got to be prepared."
Rhinelander has the inside track on the conference title, having gone 7-0 in dual meet play and earned No. 1 seeds in five of the seven flights for today's tournament when the GNC tennis coaches conducted their seeding meeting Wednesday in Wausau. No team leading the standings entering the GNC tournament has lost the conference title.
A team can earn up to 42 points at the conference tournament - with six points going to the champion at each of the seven flights, four points to second, three to third and four points for fourth. That, in essence, makes Rhinelander's magic number 32 points to lock up the conference title, and that magic number drops with each match Rhinelander wins or Antigo loses.
Rhinelander and Antigo are on opposite sides of the draw in five of the seven flights, setting up potential final round matchups. At both No. 1 singles and No. 1 doubles, the Hodags and Red Robins are on a collision course to meet in the semifinals, assuming they both can win their first round matchups.
"You could reduce any strategy to basically one sentence. It's dual between us and Antigo and you've got to win that dual," Heideman said.
Other storylines to follow heading into today's meet:
Sew your seeds early
For the first time the Great Northern Conference seeded the conference tournament in advance of the event, as opposed to the morning of. The meeting in Wausau on Wednesday yielded predictable results for the Hodags.
Rhinelander earned the top seed at Nos. 2 and 3 singles, and in all three doubles flights. The arguments in those flights were pretty much cut and dried considering that Kenedy Van Zile (No. 2 singles), Kaylee Pontell (No. 3 singles), Alex Oestreich and Jackie Wells (No. 1 doubles), Kathryn Borski at Lisa White (No. 2 doubles) and Izzy Haverkampf and Jaiden Thiel (No. 3 doubles) all went a perfect 7-0 during the dual meet portion of the GNC season.
"The top seeds in every bracket had played each other, so it was pretty easy," Heideman said. "For us there was one exception. At No. 3 doubles we did not play the team Antigo has for the team tournament. The team Antigo has for the tournament is 4-0 and we were 7-0. There might have been a little argument there as far as both being undefeated, but I think Antigo gave us the nod because we had played all seven of the GNC duals."
Antigo's Elli Stank and Ellie Preboski earned the second seed at No. 3 doubles. Preboski did not play in the match Sept. 13 against Rhinelander. Haverkampf and Thiel defeated Stank and Holly Zimmerman in three sets, 6-2, 5-7, 6-1.
Kat Metropulos (6-1) earned the seconds seed at No. 4 singles for Rhinelander. She was seeded behind Antigo's Brecklyn Flannery, who went 7-0 in the flight and beat Metropulos in a three-set match in Rhinelander Sept. 13. Annika Johnson (5-2) earned the third seed at No. 1 singles behind Wausau Newman's Becky Larrain (7-0) and Antigo's Avery Nicholson (6-1).
Bye-bye, bye
With all eight GNC teams expected to field a full lineup for today's tournament, Rhinelander will earn no free passes as it tries to secure a conference title.
Previously, when the conference had only six or seven teams - or when some of the bottom teams had forfeits - a top seed came with a free pass into the semifinals. That was significant because a bye guaranteed a finish of fourth or better and clinched two additional points for the conference crown. It also gave the top-seed an advantage in the semifinals over its opponent, which had to win a quarterfinal match earlier in the day.
This time around, the Hodags will have to get those points the old-fashioned way - they'll have to earn them.
"I think in terms of the five No. 1 seeds that we're as close to that as we can get, playing the No. 8 seed," Heideman said. "Then, of course, if you win that, you're playing the No. 4 seed in the semis. It's different, but I prefer to play. I don't view three matches versus somebody who plays two as all that much of an advantage in this situation."
Homecoming Hijinks
Today's meet takes place with the backdrop of homecoming at Rhinelander High School.
The meet is starting early, at 8:30 a.m., in an effort to ensure the matches are done soon enough for those athletes who are attending tonight's homecoming dance to have time to prepare for the event.
Similar to the approach the RHS football team took in terms of handling the extra-curriculars surrounding homecoming, Heideman said he wants his players to enjoy homecoming - but only after they've finished the task at hand on the tennis courts.
"We have been talking a lot about that. We started immediately after our win against Newman (last) Friday talking about that in that we would be thinking about tennis during tennis time. After that, homecoming can be in their focus," Heideman said. "We viewed (the meet at) Wisconsin Rapids (on Monday) as kind of a practice of that because there were homecoming activities that night. We just wanted to be focused on playing Rapids."
Milestone moments
Van Zile enters today's tournament looking to finish her career as a three-time individual GNC tennis champion.
She was the No. 4 singles champion in 2017 and the No. 3 singles champion last year.
Oestreich is looking to make the all-conference team for a fourth straight year. She was the conference runner-up at No. 4 singles in 2016 and No. 2 singles in 2017 before finishing third and receiving honorable mention at No. 1 singles last year.
Wells, Oestreich's No. 1 doubles teammate, is looking for her third appearance on the all-conference team after earning honorable mention at No. 3 doubles each of the last two years. Sophomores Johnson and Pontell are looking to make the all-conference team for a second straight year. Pontell was the No. 4 singles champ last year while Johnson received honorable mention at No. 1 doubles.
Rhinelander is also looking for its first player of the year award since 2015. A year later, the GNC began awarding player of the year to the champion at the No. 1 flight in both singles and doubles. The Hodags have not had an individual champion in a No. 1 flight since 2015, when Ivy Packard was the champion at No. 1 singles and took home player of the year honors.
Meet logistics
Coaches will meet at the RHS tennis courts at 8 a.m. to go over final instructions and any scratches or emergency last-minute substitutions. Presuming there are no hiccups there, Heideman said the goal is to have the players on the courts for warmups by 8:15 with the first matches starting at 8:30.
Matches in the Nos. 1 and 2 singles and doubles flights will be held at the RHS tennis courts. Matches at Nos. 3 and 4 singles, and No. 3 doubles, will be conducted at the auxiliary tennis courts located between RHS and James Williams Middle School.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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