October 10, 2022 at 8:29 a.m.
Hodag tennis stopped at sectionals
Hodag tennis stopped at sectionals
No. 1 singles player Tori Riopel and No. 1 doubles partners Taylor Riopel and Helena Wisner dropped their first-round matches in straight sets in the sectional round of the WIAA Division 1 tournament in Eau Claire.
Because the three were in the top flights for their respective categories, they needed only one win to secure an automatic berth to the WIAA state tournament. There was still hope of a special exemption, but none of the Hodag players were added to the state field when the extra qualifiers were announced on Friday.
"That side of the section has a lot of good team, some big tennis powerhouses," Hodag coach Matt Nichols said. "They've got nice access to courts and pros and a strong tradition usually leads to strong players year after year. We expected that when we went down there. We saw some good players and had some good games of tennis out there."
Tori Riopel fell in the sectional quarterfinals to New Richmond's Izzy Brinkman, who eventually took fourth on the day. Riopel lost 6-2, 7-5. It was almost a mirror image of when the two players met Aug. 16 in De Pere, where Brinkman won 7-6 (2), 6-1.
"(The first set), it wasn't super close, but we has some good rallies and then we really built in that second set," Nichols said. "She pushed to 7-5 - lot of close points, lot of close game. She ultimately fell short, but it was a great to see, even though we lost, to finish on a high note of Tori playing some good tennis, pushing the whole match long and really pushing this girl to earn her win."
Taylor Riopel and Wisner were overpowered by the Eau Claire Memorial tandem of Livy Parrett and Kimberly Harvey, 6-1, 6-2 in the quarterfinal. The Memorial pair eventually finished second on the day.
"I think we were just a little outgunned, on serves especially," Nichols said. "Memorial had some nice serves and they were able to make plays off of weak returns. We had some really nice baseline-to-baseline rallies but, ultimately, we got outhit on those for the most part and weren't able to get a rhythm or flow of any type to start winning points on our side."
The loss marked the end of the RHS girls' tennis career for Taylor Riopel, who was 18-12 this season, including an 11-6 mark paired with Wisner at No. 1 doubles.
"It was a great season for her," Nichols said. "She was just really excited to qualify for sectionals, get down there and play on the big stage there. I'm really happy for her. She accomplished that goal this year and came off the high of being GNC player of the year for doubles."
Tori Riopel finished the season 20-11 while Wisner was 17-12 on the year. Nichols said the experience was good for Riopel, a junior, and Wisner, a sophomore, who figure to be key members of next year's squad.
"They have more years left, so just great to see that high level of tennis, be in that position," he said. "They can grow from it and really bring that to the team, their understanding of how tennis works - where they can get to, where they can go and what it takes to get there."
Rhinelander recovered from a slow start to the season in which it dropped its first seven matches, including the Great Northern Conference opener to Lakeland, to finish 14-12 in dual meets and 6-1 in the GNC. The Hodags rallied past Lakeland to win the overall conference title by five points.
"We as a team kind of understood that we didn't lose many seniors, but we lost some really quality seniors," Nichols said. "We knew it was going to be tough to fill those roles and we didn't necessarily do that right in the beginning of the year, but everyone grew in. They practiced hard, improved a lot and we saw that top to bottom on the team. That's all you can really ask for, just hard work and improvement throughout the season."
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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