May 9, 2022 at 9:24 a.m.
Hodag tennis sweeps Medford, pads Great Northern lead
Hodag tennis sweeps Medford, pads Great Northern lead
The Hodags padded their conference lead on Thursday, sweeping previously unbeaten Medford 7-0 at the RHS tennis courts.
With the win, Rhinelander (11-4, 6-0 Great Northern) doubled its lead to 28 points over the Raiders in the conference standings. Antigo moved into second place, 20 points behind the Hodags, by virtue of its 7-0 win over Pacelli.
"Yeah, 7-0 is a nice win now that we've seen every team at least once," Hodag coach Matt Nichols said. "That's huge moving forward as we get closer to the conference tourney."
The Hodags will have a chance to pad that lead this week, hosting Antigo today in GNC play before making the return trip to Medford on Friday to close out the dual meet portion of the conference season.
Medford was missing normal No. 2 singles player Brayden Balciar for the match and tried to shift the remaining strength in its lineup to doubles. The Hodags still won in straight sets in all three doubles matches and dominated in the three contested singles flights, dropping one game between them.
Luke Ring was a 6-0, 6-0 winner over Mason Reimunn in the top flight, Elijah Evers downed Nathan Willman 6-1, 6-0 at No. 2 and John Currie cruised past Alex Wilson 6-0, 6-0 at No. 3. Dalton Fritz picked up a forfeit win for Rhinelander at No. 4.
"Medford was down with some injuries and we were able to capitalize with some big wins on the singles side," Nichols said. "With Luke, and with Elijah and John as well, we had the consistency. With some of the slower-paced shots, we really worked on putting them away. We saw a lot of nice finishing shots that Medford wasn't able to get back. That was really nice to see as we've worked on that for quite a bit and they had a great opportunity to practice those finishing shots."
Quinton Tlusty, who had played all of his previous matches at No. 1 singles for Medford, moved to No. 1 doubles with Brayden Machon. Still the two proved no match for Rhinelander's top tandem of Joey Belanger and Layne Roeser, who cruised to a 6-2, 6-2 win in just their third match together as a pairing.
"Those two are a great team. They haven't been playing together much, but it was a nice confidence boost (facing) two solid players and they got a big win on it," Nichols said. "Not only that, they just played well together and got some more experience playing together. That's huge."
Leo Losch and Charlie Heck labored through the first set at No. 2 doubles, pulling away in the second set to get by Dante Axon and Conner Klingbiel, 7-5, 6-1.
"They seemed to struggle to put some of the balls away at enough pace where Medford couldn't get to it. That's what we talked about going into the second set and, in that second set, we saw them hit their returns harder, putting balls away with a little more pace," Nichols said. "With that extra bit of oomph, they put it past Medford. Even if Medford got a touch, it was not going in. That was the big difference moving through that second set."
Eli Lundt and Dawson Pontell cruised to a 6-0, 6-3 win over Saskatoon Damm and Brett Lundy at No. 3 doubles.
Appleton North Invite
The Hodags ventured outside of the GNC on Saturday and got their first taste of tournament-style play in the Appleton North Invite.
Like the GNC tournament, and the WIAA postseason, the tournament featured bracket play in each flight. Team scores from the event were not posted as of press time for today's edition, but the Hodags fared well - winning at least one match in all seven flights.
"Everyone won their first round and them it was just kind of a mix from there," Nichols said. "Good teams and good competition on a beautiful day. It was sunny, low wind. It was just a fun tournament, really well-run."
Evers missed Saturday's tournament, taking part in State Solo and Ensemble competition. With Currie and Fritz each playing up a flight, junior Max Durkee stepped in and won the No. 4 singles bracket.
"Max stepped in at No. 4 singles and he's a great player," Nichols said. "He and Dalton, when they had some playoffs, they were super close. It was fun to see him step in and get a win at a varsity flight."
Ring finished third at No. 1 singles, Currie was fourth at No. 2 singles and Fritz was the runner-up at No. 3 singles. In doubles play, the Hodags got runner-up finishes from Belanger and Roeser at No. 1, and from Lundt and Pontell at No. 3. Losch and Heck were third at No. 2 doubles.
"Joey and Layne are just getting more fluid together and comfortable. Both are swinging well. It was fun watching them grow together," Nichols noted.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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