September 20, 2020 at 3:35 p.m.
Tennis: Hodags sweep singles, beat Pacelli
Tennis: Hodags sweep singles, beat Pacelli
The Hodags swept singles play, which was just enough to earn a 4-3 win over third-place Pacelli at the RHS tennis courts. The win gave Rhinelander (5-1) an eight-point edge over Pacelli for second in the GNC. Antigo, with a 7-0 win over Lakeland, padded its lead to 12 over the Hodags and needs take only one of the seven flights this Thursday against Medford to lock up the conference crown.
"It was a nice comeback after the defeat at Antigo to be strong," Rhinelander coach Matt Nichols said. "We were ready. We learned from it, were ready to go and had a good day out here."
Singles carried the day for Rhinelander, led by juniors Annika Johnson and Kaylee Pontell, who posted matching 6-1, 6-0 victories in the top two flights over Pacelli's Amanda Lansing and Amelia Jacoby.
"Annika and Kaylee, they're really solid singles players," Nichols said. "If you're not up with them and they'll keep going. They'll fight and they're not going to let up. It's nice to see them play like that."
Both senior Kat Metropulos and freshman Tori Riopel needed a late set charge to pick up straight-set victories. After taking the first set at No. 3 6-2 from Julia Storch, Metropulos found herself on serve at 5-5 in the second set. She came up with a couple of key winners late to break Storch's serve in the 11th game and hold serve in the 12th to get a 7-5 win. Riopel, meanwhile, broke Allison Lange's serve in the 12th game of the first set to avoid a tiebreaker and went on to a 7-5, 6-3 win at No. 4 singles.
"(Kat) was swinging really well, great, full strokes and making the girl move. She just kept going all the way through. I think that, early on, hitting those shots carried her all the way through the end. Then she had some real nice winners," Nichols said. "(Tori) swings. She plays her game all the way through regardless of what point it. It's exciting to see that mentality and she gets some big points because of it."
The longest match of the night occurred at No. 2 doubles, were Pacelli's Jenna Stolt and Maya Kunze needed roughly 2 hours, 10 minutes to rally past Rhinelander's Alexis Engelking and Kylee Younker, 5-7, 6-3, 7-5. The two teams were on serve until the 11th game of the third set, when Pacelli was able to break the Hodags serve and go on to the victory.
Ella Schroeder and Marissa Stolt, the reigning GNC doubles players of the year, scored a 6-0, 6-4 win for Pacelli at No. 1 doubles over Kathryn Borski and Taylor Riopel. Briar Armatowski and Emily Rosenthal completed the doubles sweep for Pacelli with a 6-3, 6-0 win over Paige Oleinik and Shayla Coppenger in the third flight.
Thursday's meet was the final scheduled home match for the Hodags on the season, and the last at home for RHS seniors Metropulos, Borski and Engelking.
"It's crazy how quick the season's gone," Nichols said. "We're just really blessed we had the season and the season we had. They're a great addition to the team, some great leaders."
Rhinelander closes out the regular season this week with a non-conference match at Ashland this afternoon followed by the GNC finale Thursday at Lakeland.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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