October 3, 2022 at 7:35 a.m.
Comeback complete
Hodag tennis fends off Lakeland, Pacelli to claim 11th GNC title
Comeback complete
Rhinelander put the exclamation point on its season-long charge back to the front on Thursday, and left Lakeland celebrating with a familiar piece of hardware.
The Hodags tied Pacelli for first place in Thursday's GNC tournament. The 24 points Rhinelander scored in the tournament, coupled with the 76 points the Hodags earned during the conference dual meet season, were enough to beat Lakeland by five points for the overall title - Rhinelander's 11th in 13 years as a member of the Great Northern Conference.
Matt Nichols, voted conference coach of the year after leading the Hodags to their second straight GNC title, called this championship rewarding.
"When you work that hard for it and it all comes down to this one, culminating day, it's just so rewarding when all your efforts have paid off," he said. "We couldn't have asked for a better day. These girls have worked so hard. This was the goal all along. It was a rough start to the season, but they worked hard, came back and I think the closer it is, the more meaningful it is. You could really tell, with the buzz and energy that they were supper excited and I'm proud of them."
Despite the early loss, Rhinelander surpassed Lakeland in the conference points thanks to better performances than the Thunderbirds against the rest of the conference during the remainder of the dual meet season. The Hodags entered Thursday's meet four points ahead of Lakeland and eight ahead of Pacelli.
Though Rhinelander won only one individual flight, it proved to be the championship clincher. When senior Taylor Riopel and sophomore Helena Wisner knocked off Lakeland siblings Julianna and Kristina Ouimette 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 for the championship at No. 1 doubles, the conference title was mathematically secured.
"I just think, because this is our biggest rival, it felt even better. It just hit more." Riopel said.
She later added, after realizing she and Wisner were conference doubles players of the year as result of the victory, "Especially my senior year, I could never ask for anything more out of my senior year than to do that."
The Hodag tandem raced out to a 4-1 lead in the first set and cruised from there, but fell behind a break point in the second set and could not recover. The teams exchanged break points to get back on serve 4-3 in the third set, before the Hodags broke Lakeland's serve again. Taylor Riopel served out the match from there, finishing it with a winner down the line.
"I think it was just their mental game. They both have really grown together," Nichols said. "They're supporting each other. There was a lot of close games, so many of those were deuce, back to ad, deuce, and they were able to win the majority of those games. I think that was the difference, just staying strong and not only making less errors but also hitting some more winning shots. Their line shots were really coming into play."
That victory took a little pressure off the Rhinelander's remaining matches on the court, though Tori Riopel defeated Lakeland's Sarah Barton 6-3, 6-3 in one of the last matches to secure third place at No. 1 singles and ensure Rhinelander beat Lakeland on the day, 24-23.
Kelsey Winter and Dawsyn Barkus were conference runners-up at Nos. 2 and 4 singles while Paige Oleinik and Kayla Tessman placed second at No. 2 doubles. Brooke Sisel and Evelyn Sawyer added a third-place finish for the Hodags at No. 3 doubles.
"Whether we ended up first, like No. 1 doubles, or anywhere after that, it's a team effort," Nichols said. "That comes from all the duals, earning points there and every single flight here. It all matters. I think, when we break it down, that's the thing we're going to talk about. Every single person contributed to this team."
There were plenty of ebbs and flows throughout the day. Based on seeding for the tournament, Rhinelander, Lakeland and Pacelli were all projected to score 25 points. Rhinelander took the first hit when third-seeded Shayla Coppenger was upset 3-6, 6-4, 12-10 by Medford's Audrey Ruesch in the quarterfinals at No. 3 singles. Lakeland, though, lost points off its projected total when Maria Gironella was upset in the first round at No. 2 singles and Phoebe Wirtz, the top seed at No. 3 singles, was knocked off by Wausau Newman's Destiny Lo in the semifinals.
Rhinelander had a few key matches go their way in the semifinals. Winter fended off Pacelli's Lauren Loesl 6-2, 4-6, 13-11 to earn a spot in the No. 2 singles finals. Winter faced match point, down 11-10 in the tiebreaker, before coming up with three straight winners to end it.
"She had a really tough fight in that semifinal round to make it to the finals and she played an awesome game technically, but mentally strong," Nichols said. "Ten-point tiebreaks, conference tournament, you know the points are close, it's not an easy job."
Barkus, the third seed, knocked off second-seeded Norah Strasburg of Lakeland in the No. 4 singles semifinals, 6-4, 5-7, 10-3. Despite dropping the second set, Barkus controlled the tiebreaker, racing out to a 7-2 lead and never looked back.
"Dawsyn, starting from where she was at the beginning of the season to now has improved so much," Nichols said. "She not only got to second but she surpassed her seed. She had a huge win over Lakeland in the second round. When we're looking at points, that was huge in moving us forward."
Oleinik and Tessman entered as the third seed at No. 2 doubles but routed second-seeded Anabelle Arnold and Julie Milbauer of Pacelli 6-1, 6-0 in the semifinals. Oleinik and Tessman lost to top-seeded Hailey Curtis and Cassidy Cleveland of Lakeland in the finals, but still exceeded their projection.
"No. 2 doubles, they did a great job," Nichols said. "They had some easier matches early on but that last match, even though they lost and scores weren't super tight, there were a lot of close points in there. A couple of little tweaks could make a huge difference in that game."
Pacelli's Natalie Cooper won GNC singles' player of the year, knocking off Marshfield Columbus' Maria Laura Garcia-Moya in the No. 1 singles championship. Marshfield Columbus' Akosua Yeboah defeated Winter 6-1, 6-0 for the No. 2 singles title. Pacelli's Alaina Sbonik won at No. 3 singles. Wausau Newman's Addie Schmidt defeated Barkus 6-0, 6-4 for the title at No. 4 singles. Lakeland's Charley Cleveland and Ali Timmerman won the No. 3 doubles title.
Pacelli finished third in the final conference standings, eight points behind the Hodags.
Rhinelander was back in action Monday as it hosted WIAA Division 1 subsectional play. Players advancing from that tournament will move on to the sectional round Wednesday in Eau Claire.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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