August 22, 2022 at 2:37 p.m.
Hodag tennis' title hopes suffer early blow against Lakeland
Hodag tennis' title hopes suffer early blow against Lakeland
The Hodags are going to have to play catchup in a big way following a resounding loss Thursday to a surprising foe.
Lakeland won a number of close sets and shocked the Hodags 6-1 in the GNC dual meet opener at the RHS tennis courts. Rhinelander's only win came at No. 1 singles with Tori Riopel and now the Hodags find themselves looking up at a team that finished fifth in the eight-team conference a season ago.
"They came out ready for it and they capitalized on our kind of slow start in the beginning there," Hodag coach Matt Nichols said. "Starting a season off 10 points down is not where you want to be, but that conference tournament is going to be huge."
Close losses were the story of the day for Rhinelander. Only one of Lakeland's wins was a runaway - a 6-1, 6-1 victory by Maria Gironella at No. 2 singles over sophomore Kelsey Winter. Every other match had at least one set that went at least 10 out of a possible 12 games. The Hodags were 1-7 in those close sets.
"Everything was right there. There were a lot of 6-4s, 7-5s," Nichols said. "We lost all but one of those and I think it's unfortunate but it's good early on because it will be nice motivation moving forward. We'll hit it hard at practice."
Tori Riopel was the only Hodag to win one of those close sets, beating Sarah Barton in a first-set tiebreaker 10-8 before rolling to a 6-2 win in the second set.
"She's really growing as a player and still growing into that No. 1 singles spot," Nichols said. "I think it was nice for her to get some confidence, especially that first-set win. I know she was down, I think 6-7 (in the tiebreaker) and then she came back to win it and went on to cruise through the second set. That's just really big for developing her game and confidence moving forward."
Shayla Coppenger fell to Phoebe Wirtz 6-2, 7-5 in the third singles flight while sophomore Dawsyn Barkus debuted at No. 4 singles, falling to Lakeland's Nora Strasburg, 7-5, 6-4.
"Singles, we were close in every match. We're really going to focus on, especially with the (Nos.) 2 and 3, some finishing shots," Nichols said.
"We could stick in the rally and then it was just a couple shots short of finishing and closing those games off," Nichols added. "I think we can force some points that way but, with everything being so close, it's not a question of if we can do it, it's are we going to do it? We definitely have the potential."
Taylor Riopel and Paige Oleinik lost to sisters Julianna and Kristina Ouimette 6-4, 6-4 in the top doubles flight. Helena Wisner and Kayla Tessman dropped a three-set match to Cassidy Cleveland and Hailey Curts 6-1, 4-6, 6-1 at No. 2. Lakeland's Charlie Cleveland and Ali Timmerman got by Olivia Jones and Heaven Hawes 7-5, 7-5 in the third flight.
"Lakeland's doubles, they do a really good job intercepting groundstrokes and finishing the point with a volley," Nichols said. "We're going to have to work on ways to get around their forehand volley, especially. We have to work on getting ourselves up to the net and finishing points. It's a shooting match at doubles and they were just on their toes and beat us to the punch."
The Hodags do not have another conference dual until Aug. 29, when they host Medford. That will follow four days of invitational play in Wausau this coming week. Following Thursday's early setback, Nichols said each of the remaining six GNC duals becomes vitally important for his team.
"I think if we can finish up the dual season, keep it close, it's really going to come down to who performs at the conference tourney," he said. "That's what we're shooting for. That's what we're working for. That's really what we've got to look forward to if we're going to try to win this conference and we're going to bring everything we have for that."
Hodag Triangular
The Hodags finally busted into the win column on Friday, taking care of a couple of short-handed teams in a home triangular.
Rhinelander swept both Ironwood, Mich., and Merrill, 7-0. The team dropped only four total games against Ironwood and seven games against Merrill.
"It was a long week, a lot of competition, a lot of strong competitors. It was nice to get a couple of wins there at the end, build our confidence moving forward," Nichols said. "We played two weaker teams but it was a very strong performance on our side, regardless of how the other teams played. We started 0-7, not how any team wants to start, but we just got two wins there, so that's a great turn of events, seeing that they still want it, they're still competitive and we're going to keep fighting."
Tori Riopel, Winter, Coppenger and Barkus all rolled in straight sets in both of their matches. Barkus won both of her matches, 6-0, 6-0 to record her first two varsity victories at No. 4 singles. Winter also got her first wins of the season at No. 2 singles, beating Ironwood's Jacinta Lauzon and Merrill's Sarah Rall by matching 6-1, 6-1 scores.
"Especially against some of these teams that aren't as strong, in general, tennis you're playing yourself," Nichols noted. "So (I was) seeing them develop their game, working some new strategies into it and then just overall consistency."
Oleinik and Taylor Riopel won 6-2, 6-0 over Ironwood's Lucia and Sarah Lauzon at No. 1 doubles while Wisner and Tessman defeated Emily Kane and Hailey Johnson 6-0, 6-0.
Ironwood did not have a No. 3 doubles pairing and the Hodags received forfeit wins at all three doubles flights against Merrill.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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