September 13, 2021 at 8:49 a.m.
Hodag tennis downs Wausau Newman 6-1, maintain 12-point GNC lead
Hodag tennis downs Wausau Newman 6-1, maintain 12-point GNC lead
The Hodags passed their first test Thursday with flying colors, defeating Wausau Newman 6-1 at the RHS tennis courts. Rhinelander swept doubles and took the first three singles flights to win a battle of two of the three unbeaten teams in the conference.
"The girls played so well," Hodag coach Matt Nichols said. "We implemented a lot of strategies that we've been practicing and it's just awesome to see them all perform them even higher than the beginning of the season."
Senior Annika Johnson won the longest and, arguably, most important match of the night as she rallied to defeat Wausau Newman's Becky Larrain in three sets 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 in a match that took well over two hours to complete.
Johnson lost to Larrain, last year's conference runner-up at No. 1 singles, in straight sets each of the last two seasons. After dropping a tight first set, Johnson took the last three games of the second and pulled away in the third set. She improved to 16-3 overall on the season and gave herself the inside track at the top seed for the conference tournament later this month.
"It just goes to show Annika's drive and stamina," Nichols said. "She obviously put a lot of energy into the match, but she was able to outlast and out play Becky, who looked like she was getting kind of tired out there. That's a long match, long rallies, but I think the bigger piece was Annika's shots, those aggressive shots."
"She was really dialed in on her backhand, just winning points from the baseline, which I haven't seen her do nearly as consistently in the past," Nichols added. "We've worked a lot on that. She's worked a lot on that, and that turned that match around and got her the win."
Rhinelander trotted out its sixth different doubles lineup in as many matches on Thursday, but it resulted in the Hodags' third straight doubles sweep. Paige Oleinik returned after missing Tuesday's win at Marshfield Columbus due to illness. She was reunited with her doubles partner from last year, Shayla Coppenger, at No. 2 doubles as the two fended off Elizabeth Clancy and Calli Groth 6-4, 6-3.
Taylor Riopel and Kylee Younker played together at the top flight for the second straight match, downing Gabby Hackett and Destiny Lo, 6-2, 6-4. Kayla Tessman and Claira Bramm teamed up at No. 2 doubles for a 6-1, 6-2, win over Ada Stenstrom and Grace Martin.
"We saw a new doubles lineup and they meshed well together. Our team is close so nearly everyone plays well together," Nichols said. "We've worked a lot on movement, doubles-wise, but then also volley placement. I think regardless of who's playing, we're developing that same strategy from top to bottom, and that movement, which is pretty much uniform across all doubles play."
Senior Kaylee Pontell improved to 14-3 on the season with a 6-0, 6-0 win over Ava Sukanen at No. 2 singles. Pontell had lost only two games total in her last four matches and was dominant on Thursday. "The scores make it look easy and Kaylee does that. She's such a solid player. She could be playing at the No. 1 singles position, we just are fortunate enough to have Annika, who's a little stronger," Nichols said. "But Kaylee, I think it's important to share just how much she's improved individually on her game and her movement on the court, which is taking to her to that next level, setting her up for better shots. She's taking those shots and winning points off of them."
Tori Riopel bounced back from a three-set loss last Tuesday at Marshfield Columbus, defeating Natalie Townsend 6-2, 6-0 at No. 3 singles. Kelsey Winter suffered Rhinelander's lone loss, falling to Reagan Herdrich, 6-3, 6-3 in the fourth singles flight.
The Hodags entered Thursday's play with a 12-point lead over Wausau Newman in a tightly-packed conference race. Rhinelander padded the margin to 22 over Newman with the win, but Antigo vaulted into second in the standings, 12 points behind the Hodags, with a 7-0 victory over Phillips on Thursday.
Rhinelander will host Antigo this afternoon and then will take on Pacelli on Thursday. Pacelli is fourth, 24 points off the lead, but is 4-0 in the conference and has played one fewer match than the Hodags.
"We celebrated the win, but we talked about how we also need to focus," Nichols said. "Conference isn't over. We still have two conference matches and the conference meet. We're closing in on that goal to win conference, but we've got to keep working hard at practice and stay focused."
Wausau West Invite
On Friday, Rhinelander traveled down to Wausau for the fourth-time this season for a multi-team invite, splitting a pair of matches.
The Hodags defeated Eau Claire North 4-3, and lost to Wausau West 7-0.
"It's nice to play some different teams," Nichols said "We've obviously played West before, but it was nice to play them, get pushed. It's always nice to play a team at that level to see where we're shooting for, but to also get pushed in our game."
Johnson, Pontell and Tori Riopel won the first three singles flights against North and Rhinelander got a win from Coppenger and Tessman at No. 3 doubles to secure the dual.
Coppenger and Tessman had the most competitive match against Wausau West, falling in a super tiebreaker. Rhinelander dropped the other six flights in straight sets to the Wisconsin Valley Conference-leading Warriors. West swept Rhinelander for the second time this season.
"I think our singles kind of matched up similar to earlier and our doubles pushed a lot hard, just the chemistry and getting a little more comfortable with the movement and positioning on the court," Nichols said.
Friday's double dual was a late add-on to the scheduled after an event Aug. 27 in Wausau was rained out.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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