May 12, 2022 at 8:57 a.m.
Hodag tennis beats Antigo, pushes GNC lead to 30 points
Hodag tennis beats Antigo, pushes GNC lead to 30 points
The Hodags put more distance between themselves and the field Tuesday, rallying for a pair of three-set wins in singles play to defeat Antigo 6-1 at the RHS tennis courts.
That stretched Rhinelander's lead to 30 points over Antigo and 40 over third-place Medford, which has played one fewer match than the two leaders. Rhinelander closes out conference dual meet play today at Medford, while the Raiders and the Red Robins play a make-up match this coming Monday.
"We definitely want every point we can get going into next week's conference meet. It's really nice. It's huge. It's a good win, and a confidence boost," Hodag coach Matt Nichols said.
Senior Luke Ring played the match of the night for the Hodags and thrust himself back into the conversation for conference singles player of the year. Ring rallied to defeat Antigo's Garrett Husnick in a third-set tiebreaker 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (3) at No. 1 singles in a match that took nearly 2 1/2 hours to complete.
Ring found himself down a break on three separate occasions in the third set, but answered to brake Husnick's serve three times - including in the final game of the set - to force the tiebreaker. Ring never trailed in the tiebreaker, taking the first three points.
"His serve was struggling there for a little bit so it was nice to see he was able to clear his head, get his serve back and end up on top," Nichols said.
The battle between Ring and Husnick resembled a heavyweight prize fight at times with both players firing home strong winners and making great plays at the net to keep rallies alive.
"It was just back-and-forth the whole time," Nichols said. "(Husnick) was super consistent. We were working on finishing shots and commanding the points. We were able to do that and we finished off strong. It was a great match for Luke and super excited for his win. Both have great hands, they come up and had some great points, lots of volleys, lobs over. There was a lot of hustle on both sides. It was a fun match."
Rhinelander's other three-set win came at No. 4 singles were Dalton Fritz recovered from dropping a first-set tiebreaker to take down Landon Nelson 6-7 (5), 6-2, 6-3.
"I think that first set he just struggled a little bit with consistency," Nichols said. "Once he got in the groove of things, he was hitting like we've seen him previously this year. Once he got more consistency he still had his finishing shots. We've worked a lot on net play so he was able to come up to the net and finish points there, which was huge."
Rhinelander's lone loss came at No. 2 singles, where Antigo's Sam Bretl took down Elijah Evers, 6-3, 6-3. John Currie cruised to a 6-1, 6-1 win over Seth Beaber at No. 3 singles.
"John's just a very consistent player and smart player," Nichols said. "We tried a couple of new strategies, which he was able to implement, which is fun to see, especially when he's not pushed as hard."
Rhinelander cruised in doubles play. Layne Roeser and Joey Belanger were 6-1, 6-2 winners over Calvin Jansen and Nolan Bunnell in the top flight while Leo Losch and Charlie Heck downed Cole Umland and Aaron Converse 6-1, 6-1 at No. 2. Antigo did not field a No. 3 doubles team, as Gavin Denis and Gavin Ostermann won unopposed for Rhinelander.
"Our doubles are strong and we really worked a lot on net play. We saw some great volleying today. It's exciting to see that translate from practice into a match," Nichols said.
Though Rhinelander closes out conference play today, it still has a couple of more dual meets on the schedule as it hosts Shawano and Wausau West in a non-conference triangular on Monday. Play begins at 1 p.m. at the RHS tennis courts.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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