September 19, 2022 at 11:15 a.m.
Hodag tennis sweeps Antigo, claims GNC lead
Hodag tennis sweeps Antigo, claims GNC lead
The Hodags concluded the conference dual meet season at 6-1 with a 7-0 sweep at Antigo. The 14 points earned with the sweep vaulted Rhinelander into first in the conference standings, ahead of fellow 6-1 teams Lakeland and Pacelli entering this coming Saturday's conference tournament.
Rhinelander started the year with a 6-1 loss to the T-Birds but finally caught and passed Lakeland thanks to its performances in the other six conference matches.
"These girls have worked for it. I'm really proud of them," Hodag coach Matt Nichols said. "We started from the bottom and ended on the top. It's awesome to see them grow, push themselves and it's a great position to be in moving forward."
Rhinelander won all seven flights in straight sets on Thursday against an Antigo team that was hit hard by graduation. The Robins had only a couple of returning players from last year's squad that finished third in the conference last year.
Still, Nichols said the Hodags knew they could not take the Robins for granted.
"Any team I feel like if they have a good one and we don't come ready to play, they could beat us," he said. "We knew we still had to come and play our best tennis and they did that. It's great to see it."
Tori Riopel had the most difficult match, pushed by Antigo's Sierra Oelke at No. 1 singles. Break points late in each set proved to be enough for Riopel to earn a 6-4, 6-4 victory.
"Her opponent was very consistent, had some nice shots and good net play," Nichols said. "It was a fun match to watch. She got pushed and that's good for her. We ended up on top. We needed that and it was good to see."
Rhinelander cruised in the three other singles flights Tuesday. Kelsey Winter was a 6-1, 6-0 winner over Jacqueline Belling at No. 2; Shayla Coppenger defeated Hailey Warren 6-0, 6-1 at No. 3 and Dawsyn Barkus downed Evie Trabant-McKenna 6-2, 6-3 in the fourth flight.
"Nos. 2 and 3 there wasn't much opposition. Kelsey was working on trying a couple of new things we've done in practice," Nichols noted. "Then Dawsyn's just really improved her consistency in long rallies, which we expect to see. She did a nice job developing points and she also had some nice finishes there too."
Rhinelander did not drop a game in the first set of any of the three doubles matches as it rolled to victories. Taylor Riopel and Helena Wisner took down Elena Bussiere and Molly Neufeld 6-0, 6-2 in the top flight; Paige Oleinik and Kayla Tessman were 6-0, 6-1 winners at No. 2 over Anna Vandeweerd and Julia Volpentesta; Evelyn Sawyer and Brooke Sisel cruised 6-0, 6-1 over Hailey Burhop and Anna Huess at No. 3.
"Top to bottom we did an excellent job closing at the net. That's what we're working toward. That's what we want to keep seeing," Nichols said. "No. 3 doubles went one up, one back, just putting balls away cross court. Then No. 1 and No. 2, not only one up and one back, but also pushing that two up and pushing that into game play."
While Wausau Newman still has a dual to make up against Marshfield Columbus, the GNC title race picture was set following Thursday's play. Rhinelander will have a four-point cushion on Lakeland entering the conference meet while Pacelli, which defeated Phillips 7-0 on Thursday, will be only eight points back in third place.
"It's a tight race and both have really good flights and could get some individual wins," Nichols said. "It's going to be a race to see who can get the most individual wins and, if you can't get that, can you get second or third, because all of those points are going to matter too."
Rhinelander has the rare opportunity of a full week of practice leading into conference. Nichols said the primary objective this week will be keeping the foot on the accelerator.
"We can't relax. We can't say, 'Oh, we won the regular season, we can slack for the tourney,'" he said. "We've got to hit the ground running because all of these teams that we played earlier, there were a lot of close games. They're practicing hard. They're going to come back with a vengeance, so we have to keep playing like we're on the bottom all the way til the end here."
Lakeland will host the GNC tournament at Lakeland Union High School and a couple of other satellite locations in the Minocqua area.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
WEATHER SPONSORED BY
E-Editions
Latest News
E-Editions
Events
August
To Submit an Event Sign in first
Today's Events
No calendar events have been scheduled for today.
Comments:
You must login to comment.