September 27, 2021 at 8:45 a.m.
Hodag tennis wraps up title at suspended GNC meet
Hodag tennis wraps up title at suspended GNC meet
Rhinelander went a combined 13-4 in a long day of tennis to lock up its ninth Great Northern Conference title, but still had four individual championship matches in the balance when play was suspended due to darkness following more than nine hours of tennis.
Tori Riopel was the only one to wrap up an individual title for the Hodags, finishing off her championship match at No. 3 singles under the lights of one of Antigo's two lit courts.
Rhinelander was set to resume play Monday in Wausau to conduct the championship matches at Nos. 1 and 2 singles, and Nos. 1 and 2 doubles that concluded after deadline for today's edition. None of those matches started before the decision was made to not send any more matches out due to darkness.
Rhinelander, which entered the day 22 points clear of Pacelli and Antigo in the standings, clinched the conference title during first-round play. The Hodags are also assured of taking first place in the tournament with 26 points already in the bank with four matches to play. Pacelli and Wausau Newman still had the potential to get to 18 points, pending the outcome of Monday's matches.
The Hodags accomplished their goal of regaining the conference title but, with darkness approaching and players already late for Rhinelander High School's homecoming dance Saturday night, coach Matt Nichols said there was little time to celebrate.
"It's super exciting. The girls worked hard for it. I'm proud of them," he said. "The timing just wasn't great, with homecoming but also with how late it went. It seemed a bit odd leaving having matches still out there but knowing, as a team, we had already won conference. It seems unsettled at the moment."
A number of factors worked against the teams in their efforts to complete play on Saturday. Play was scheduled to start at 9 a.m. but did not begin until closer to 9:45 following a lengthy coaches' meeting which determined the seeding for each flight in the tournament. A number of matches ran long. In addition to eight singles matches that went to a 10-point super tiebreaker after two sets, five doubles matches went to a full third set - with two of those ending in a third-set tiebreaker.
Then there was the sheer math of trying to squeeze in 56 matches on Antigo's eight-court facility, of which only two courts have lights.
"I don't know that it really mattered how you run it, when you have eight courts and that many matches, it's just tough to get them all in," Nichols said.
Tori Riopel was involved in two of the day's longer matches. After cruising past Medford' Makayla Motte in the quarterfinals, she withstood two strong runs by Wausau Newman's Natalie Townsend to win in a super tiebreaker 6-4, 0-6, 10-4. That set up a rematch with Marshfield Columbus' Akosua Yeboah, who defeated Riopel during the conference dual season.
Yeboah won the first set 7-5 but Riopel stormed back to take the second 6-2 under fading light. The players moved over to one of the lit courts for the match tiebreaker. Yeboah took the first two points, before Riopel took control, won 10-6 and claimed her first conference title.
"I'm very happy for actually beating her this time," Riopel said. "I just really wanted to beat her because she beat me the first time, so I tried really hard, had some really hard strokes."
Added Nichols, "I think she started to be a lot more consistent, just keeping the ball in. We talked about better net clearance and deeper shots. That, I think, changed the game for her. On the flip side, her forehand has improved a lot. After we got a long rally going, she was able to put the ball away with some strong, commanding forehands."
Tori was not the only sibling in the Riopel family with a flair for the dramatic on Saturday. Taylor Riopel, Tori's older sister, survived a marathon match with teammate Paige Oleinik against Antigo's Faith Bussiere and Ellie Packard, needing eight match points to advance to the finals at No. 1 doubles.
The Hodag tandem rallied from behind in the first set to win in a tiebreaker 8-6, but then got rolled 6-1 in the second set. Taylor Riopel and Oleinik were up 5-1 in the third, and serving up 40-15 in the seventh game, but were unable to close it out and Antigo rallied to get back to 5-5. The Hodags broke the Robins' serve in the 11th game but, again up 40-15 in the 12th game, were unable to serve out for the match, pushing the affair to a tiebreaker.
The Rhinelander pair jumped ahead 6-1 in the seven-point set tiebreaker before holding on for a 7-4 victory.
"(Antigo), they're a good team," Nichols said. "It was tight during the dual and it just kept going back and fourth. So many of those games were one point away, or going back and forth with deuce. It was a long match. It was a hard-fought match and it's nice to see them win."
Rhinelander's second doubles team of Kylee Younker and Helena Wisner also won a three-setter in the semifinals, holding off Medford's Kelsey Jasper and Masaeda Krug, 6-3, 2-6, 6-2.
"They were playing a strong Medford team who earlier our No. 2 doubles lost to. It was nice to get the win there," Nichols said.
Annika Johnson rolled through her first three sets of the day at No. 1 singles, downing Phillips' Allison Kulwicki 6-1, 6-0 and taking the first set from Columbus' Maria Laura Garcia-Moya 6-0 in the semifinals. Johnson struggled a bit in the second set, but was able to grind out a 7-5 victory.
"Annika's the better player and she got the win, but Columbus came out and battled hard," Nichols said. "I commend their efforts and it was nice that Annika was able to come out on top and make it on to the finals."
Kaylee Pontell cruised through her two matches at No. 2 singles, dropping only two games in four sets on her way to the finals.
Kelsey Winter finished fourth at No. 4 singles for the Hodags. After taking her opening match in straight sets, Winter fell both to Antigo's Makayla Roberts and Lakeland's Sophia Myshchyshyn.
"Kelsey, she played really well there. She was pushed by other good players," Nichols said. "It wasn't that she necessarily played bad, but she had some good opponents on the other side."
Rhinelander also took fourth at No. 3 doubles where junior Olivia Jones was pressed into duty as a last-minute substitution with both Kayla Tessman and Claira Bramm unavailable for the meet. Jones and teammate Shayla Coppenger won their first match in straight sets, but fell to eventual champions Cassidy Cleveland and Malina Reynolds of Lakeland in the semifinals and lost a three-setter to Antigo's Claire Musolff and Anna Evans in the third-place match.
"It was nice to get that win, finish fourth and earn some points for the team," Nichols said. "Shayla and Jones have never played together before. Doubles is a lot of chemistry and the two of them, they clicked really well, made the best of it, had fun and played well."
Play was set to resume Monday afternoon in Wausau with Johnson facing Wausau Newman's Becky Larrain for the title at No. 1 singles. Pontell was set to face Pacelli's Lauren Loesl at No. 2 singles. Tori Riopel and Paige Oleinik were set to face defending GNC doubles players of the year Ella Schroeder and Marissa Stolt from Pacelli at No. 1 doubles while Younker and Wisner were set to battle Pacelli's Amelia Jacoby and Julia Storch in the second doubles flight.
Nichols said part of him would have loved to see the matches finish on Saturday, given the Hodags' athleticism, but he understood the reasoning behind suspending play.
"Because it was getting so late, I think it was better to move it," he said. "Ideally, I think our team, we work on some conditioning and a lot of our athletes play other sports, so they're just good athletes and can go all day. If we had more court space, ideally, I think it would have been nicer to finish everything today, but with it getting so late, I think it's good that we moved it."
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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