October 6, 2022 at 8:43 a.m.
Hodags advance three to tennis sectionals
Hodags advance three to tennis sectionals
Tori Riopel advanced to Wednesday's sectional round in singles, while Taylor Riopel and Helena Wisner moved on in doubles, but Rhinelander got only one other win in the five other flights as it placed seventh in a nine-team event that included all of the Wisconsin Valley Conference, plus GNC runner-up Lakeland.
Coach Matt Nichols said Monday was a step up in competition for his players, many of whom entered the day as underdogs.
"With the higher level of play, you've got to expect balls to come back," he said. "You can't think you hit a winner and then relax. You have to be ready, get into a good position so that if the ball does come back, you can make a play on it. I think that's the difference with the people that are winning and the people that are losing, those people winning, they can hit the winners but they're also ready for the ball to come back and they can finish it, if it wasn't finished with that first offensive shot."
Playing in the No. 1 flights, the Riopels and Wisner needed to win only once to advance sectionals. The three did so with convincing wins in the their matches.
Tori Riopel, the third-seed in the No. 1 singles draw, breezed past Marshfield's Isabel Krueger 6-0, 6-1 to advance.
"With Tori, she had a hard-hitting girl who could move the ball really well," Nichols said. "She was just great at defense, keeping the ball deep and not letting that girl get to the net and attack any more with angles. She did a nice job of chasing balls downs and also had some nice finishing shots, but I think the biggest thing there was just sticking in the point, keeping the ball deep."
Taylor Riopel and Wisner were also the third seed in doubles and rolled to a 6-2, 6-0 win over Wausau East's Stella Glaser and Maggie Winter.
"At No. 1 doubles, we did a nice job ground stroking," Nichols said. "I think that's some of the best, most consistent ground stroking I've seen. Then we also had some nice finishes at the net."
Rhinelander's only other win came at No. 3 doubles where sixth-seeded Brooke Sisel and Evelyn Sawyer upset the third-seeded Marshfield tandem of Ruhi Shah and Ashley Grancorvitz 6-2, 7-6 (3) before falling to second-seeded Sawyer Holberg and Sydney Holberg of Wisconsin Rapids, 6-1, 6-2.
"We had a nice win in the first round at No. 3 doubles, that's always nice when you can finish over your seed," Nichols said.
The Hodags had a pair of close calls in the second flights. In singles, Kelsey Winter was the No. 6 seed but forced a first-set tiebreaker with Stevens Point's Rylan Woytasik before falling 7-6 (2), 6-3.
"We lost to (Woytasik) earlier in the year and Kelsey's improved so much since then," Nichols said. "It was nice to watch more competitive rallies, tight score. We got to a set tiebreak. That was exciting. Unfortunately, it didn't go in our favor."
Senior Paige Oleinik and junior Kayla Tessman were the third seed at No. 2 doubles, but were upset by Wausau West's Miranda Nelson and Chloe Vandenberg, 6-4, 7-6 (6).
"No. 2 doubles, we saw a team, I don't know if they were surprised by them but just a very solid team," Nichols said. "They got a lot of balls back that we didn't necessarily expect and then we made some unforced errors, which didn't help. But they were able to stick in the tiebreak. It was a very close one. It was nice play to see from them at the end of the season."
Shayla Coppenger fell to Wisconsin Rapids' Hayley Jensen 6-3, 6-2 as the fifth seed at No. 3 singles. Dawsyn Barkus got the sixth seed at No. 4 singles and lost to Stevens Point's Lily Meeks, 6-4, 6-0.
Wednesday's sectional round took place in Eau Claire and was ongoing as of press time for today's edition. Both Rhinelander entries lost their quarterfinal matches.
Tori Riopel (20-11) lost to New Richmond's Izzy Brinkman (25-6) in the sectional quarterfinals 6-2, 7-5 while Taylor Riopel and Helena Wisner (11-6) were defeated by Eau Claire Memorial's Livy Parrett and Kimberly Harvey (13-5), 6-2, 6-1.
Sectional quarterfinal winners in the No. 1 singles and doubles flights earn automatic berths to the WIAA individual state tennis tournament next week in Madison. Special qualifiers for the tournament are expected to be announced later today.
A full report from sectionals will appear in Tuesday's River News.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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