May 13, 2021 at 11:48 a.m.
Hodag netters fend off Medford 6-1
Hodag netters fend off Medford 6-1
The Hodags swept doubles and split a pair of three-set matches in singles as they defeated Medford 6-1 at the RHS tennis courts in a conference dual meet.
The Raiders (4-1, 1-1 Great Northern) had not dropped a single match in four duals entering Tuesday's play while Rhinelander (5-0, 2-0 Great Northern) continued its undefeated start to the season - dropping only three individual matches in five duals so far.
"They came ready to compete and they were a strong team," Rhinelander coach Matt Nichols said of Medford. "A lot of teams are going to be surprised (by them). They're scrappy. They played hard and, honestly, they're they best team I think we've played so far."
Defending conference singles player of the year Jacob Weddle was pushed early in his match at No. 1 singles against Medford's Logan Searles. Down a break 2-3 in the first set, Weddle broke Searles' serve in the sixth game and then took control with a strong service game in the seventh. The Hodag senior dropped only one game the rest of the way as he moved to 5-0 on the year.
"He had a slow start, a little slower than he normally has," Nichols said of Weddle. "He was struggling early on to handle the Medford guy's slice but once he figured that out and got his serve going, he was able to cruise through for the victory."
The Hodags had the easiest time in the other matches in the top flights - but even those matches weren't cakewalks. Freshman Joey Belanger fended off Medford's Quinton Tlusty 6-1, 6-4 at No. 2 singles. In doubles play, Luke Ring and Elijah Evers were 6-2, 6-3 winners over Tahtankka Damm and Kevin Damm at the top flight. Billy Berwig and Layne Roeser took the first set over Colbe Bull and Brayden Machon 6-1 at No. 2 doubles and were up 5-2 in the second before the Medford pair reeled off a couple of games. Berwig and Roeser were not able to put away three match point opportunities in the 10th game of the second set, but won anyway after Medford double faulted in its serve in the final two points of the match.
Rhinelander's third doubles tandem of Jake Losch and Joseph Heck was also the benefactor of a set-clinching double fault as they got by Saskatoon Damm and Brayden Balciar 7-5 in the first set. Things went easier in the second set for the Hodag seniors as they took it 6-3.
"Three doubles, that first set they went 7-5, but they started playing better and started clicking and took that second set with a little more gusto," Nichols noted.
The two longest matches of the afternoon took place in the bottom two singles flight. Joey Sturzl won a No. 4 singles match for Rhinelander that included a pair of set tiebreakers while Leo Losch dropped his match at No. 3 singles to Ethan Swiantek in a match that went to a third-set tiebreak.
Sturzl, playing Medford's Adam Swedlund, staved off two set points for force a tiebreaker in the first set and eventually won the tiebreaker 7-5 with an ace on the last point. Swedlund turned the tide, winning the second set tiebreaker 8-6, but Sturzl bounced back and played some of his best tennis of the day, winning the third set 6-2.
"He's an experienced player and the opponent was a freshman. I think that might have played into it a bit, Joey just being able to push through and just keep playing the game he knows how to play," Nichols said. "I also think in that second set, and especially coming into the third, we worked on coming to the net and finishing the points there. His approach shot really started to improve, setting up for those finishing shots at the net. He capitalized on those and the match ended up going in his favor."
Leo Losch rallied from down 2-5 in the first set to take it 7-5, but dropped the second set 4-6 and eventually lost the third-set tiebreaker 6-8. Swiantek made the Hodag sophomore move all over the court, but Losch was able to return a high number of shots, that kept rallies going.
"He covers the whole thing. He gets almost every ball. It was just a tight match, start to finish," Nichols said. "He was really well matched against that Medford guy. They were both very good players, many long rallies that seemed like they were going for minutes. It ended up being a tiebreaker, the Medford guy won 8-6. It doesn't get any closer than that, but he played well and competed to the end and I was happy with how he played."
Rhinelander figures to have a much better idea of where it stands in both the GNC and its subsectional by the end of this week. Rival Antigo visited Rhinelander yesterday for a match that concluded after deadline. The Hodags are at Lakeland today to play a short-handed T-Birds squad before heading to Wausau tomorrow for another invitational where they are schedule to face a couple of other teams in next month's Division 1 subsectional.
"We have the conference matches, which are huge in our pursuit of the conference title and then we're seeing those team in the sub on Saturday," Nichols said. "We've got to play well every single day, day in and day out, and point by point. It's a great week of tennis and fun to have so many competitions."
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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