October 7, 2020 at 1:16 p.m.
Hodag tennis advances four to sectionals
Hodag tennis advances four to sectionals
Rhinelander advanced four entries to sectionals, and were one win away in each of the other flights, as they finished second in an eight-team subsectional at Wausau West.
All four of Rhinelander's singles players - Annika Johnson, Kaylee Pontell, Kat Metropulos and Tori Riopel - advanced to the sectional round, which was held Wednesday at Wausau West and concluded after press time for today's edition.
"It was what we were hoping for," Hodag coach Matt Nichols said of Monday's performance. "Obviously, getting more through would be great, but we were really happy with the day. I'd say that's the best I've seen the girls play all year. We've been working hard at it. It was nice that it came to fruition at subsectionals."
That was all despite the match being Rhinelander's first since a 4-3 home win over Pacelli Sept. 17. Since then, the Hodags had a non-conference match at Ashland canceled, and three times had a Great Northern Conference match against Lakeland washed away. If there was any rust on Monday, Nichols said the team did not show it.
"It was kind of tough, not playing in a while, but we simulated some gameplay at practice and did our best with that," he said. "They looked well-prepared going into it."
The Hodags' subsectional went from 11 teams in Green Bay to eight teams in Wausau after Notre Dame Academy, West De Pere and Wausau East were late opt-outs due to COVID-19 concerns. Rhinelander fared well against the remainder of the field on Monday, going 9-3 overall on the day.
Johnson, the third seed at No. 1 singles, needed to win only one match to advance to Wednesday's sectional round, and made short work of sixth-seeded Rylie Anderson of Shawano in a 6-0, 6-1 victory.
"Annika, she's really worked on her serve quite a bit and just her deep ground strokes, putting some pace on it. She executed that well," Nichols noted.
Pontell, a junior, moved to 9-0 on the season and earned her third career trip to sectionals with a pair of straight set wins on Monday. She rolled over D.C. Everest's Maddie Baregi, 6-0, 6-2 in her first match before running into Antigo's Margo Kelly for the second time this season. Pontell needed three sets to get past Kelly Sept. 15 in Antigo, but was able to take her in straight sets, 7-5, 6-3 on Monday.
"Kaylee, she's been working a lot on the mental part of the game," Nichols noted.
"She has great strokes and it was nice to see that come to play today. She fought through some tough conditions and a tough opponent."
Wind was a factor for everyone on Monday as a southerly breeze gusted in excess of 30 MPH at times. The ability to harness the wind was key, as it was for Metropulos at No. 3 singles who earned straight set wins over D.C. Everest's Nya Harrington and Shawano's Jenna Ainsworth.
"She fought a tough competitor, both very consistent," Nichols said of Metropulos' match against Ainsworth. "She just had a couple nicer shots and used those to her advantage. We've been working on slicing and she brought that into her gameplay. That helped it out on one of the sides, slicing it into the wind."
Thanks to her 7-0 record at No. 4 singles during the regular season, Tori Riopel earned the top seed in the bracket and, after earning a first-round bye, cruised into sectionals with a 6-2, 6-3 win over Wisconsin Rapids' Corrine Sazama.
"Tori, we were happy to see her get the No. 1 seed, well deserved based on her record so far," Nichols said. "She got the bye and then fought through the second match of the day, won in straight sets. It just goes to show how strong she is at that position."
Rhinelander was stopped one match shy of advancing in all three doubles flights. Taylor Riopel and Kathryn Borski had a hard-fought match at No. 1 doubles, falling to Merrill's Ameila Skoviera and Tessa Wheat 7-6 (8), 6-4. Borski and Taylor Riopel had an 8-7 lead in the first set tiebreaker before Merrill ran off three straight points to earn the set.
"They started off really strong," Nichols said. "After that, it kept going back and forth. We had some opportunities to win, but we weren't able to capitalize on those. We faced a tough opponent. They fought back and they ended up with the win."
At No. 2 doubles, Alexis Engelking and Kylee Younker started with a 6-2, 6-4 win over Shawano's Jillian Black and Aubree Zastrow, but fell in the second match to Wausau West's Quin Babiarz and Ruby Edmundson, 6-2, 6-3. It was a similar story for Paige Oleinik and Shayla Coppenger at No. 3 doubles. They beat Wisconsin Rapids' Aleigh Weight and Mya Raatz 7-5, 6-3 in the first round, but fell to top-seeded Andreanna Wilke and Mollie Lemke of Wausau West 6-0, 6-2 in the second round.
"I think that was great for those two teams, definitely the most competitive doubles teams we've seen, probably comparable to Antigo," Nichols said. "Having them get through that first round was exciting. They both competed against some very good teams that ended up beating them. It was exciting to see them play, give their best effort and make the other girls earn that win."
Wausau West, which advanced all seven flights to sectionals, took the subsectional with 24 points. Rhinelander had 18 points, followed by Antigo with 10.
In a normal season, Monday's match would have been the last for seniors Borski and Metropulos, but the WIAA afforded teams the opportunity to schedule matches this fall even after they were eliminated from tournament play, due to the unusual scheduling circumstances caused by the coronavirus. Rhinelander was set to take advantage of that opportunity, rescheduling its weather-plagued GNC dual meet with Lakeland for yesterday. A final score was not available before press time.
If Rhinelander takes just two of its seven matches against Lakeland it would vault past Pacelli into second in the final GNC standings.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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