April 17, 2023 at 9:39 a.m.
Hodag tennis downs Pacelli, goes 2-1 in Wausau
Hodag tennis downs Pacelli, goes 2-1 in Wausau
Rhinelander cruised past Pacelli 7-0 in a GNC match Thursday in Stevens Point before going 2-1 on Friday in the Wausau West Invite. After losing to D.C. Everest 5-2 in the opener, the Hodags swept Wausau West and Wausau East by matching 7-0 scores.
The West Invite was pushed up from Saturday to Friday due to the threat of rain on Saturday. Rain wasn't an issue Thursday or Friday as unseasonably warm and windy conditions greeted the Hodags in the first outdoor matches of the spring.
"It was nice to not only play, but play in some beautiful weather. It was warm. It was sunny and the guys enjoyed it," Hodag coach Matt Nichols said.
Rhinelander 7, Pacelli 0
The Hodags cruised on Thursday, especially in doubles, as they swept the Cardinals and moved to 2-0 in the GNC.
Rhinelander won all three doubles matches without dropping a single game as the teams of Joey Belanger and Layne Roeser, Leo Losch and Charlie Heck and Eli Lundt and Gavin Denis were all 6-0, 6-0 winners.
"I think our game play has improved a lot, I think just being a little more aware of our shot placement. I was talking to No. 2 doubles," Nichols said of his doubles teams. "There are shots that we practice in games, but then there's that next-level shot where that's not the theoretical shot we should take, but we see the opening and we're going take it and they were able to hit that."
Dalton Fritz won 6-2, 6-0 in the top singles flight over Ben Westrick, John Currie was a 6-1, 6-1 winner over Bennett Eckendorf at No. 2 and Dawson Pontell defeated Marcus Lansing 6-2, 6-4. Nick Lesch received a forfeit win at No.4 singles.
"John and Dalton are both looking really strong," Nichols noted. "They're both consistent players and I feel like, score-wise, there wasn't a lot of opposition, but I feel like they have a pretty high ceiling as far as developing throughout the year, especially moving up from Nos. 3 and 4 last year to Nos. 1 and 2."
Wausau West Invite
The Hodags dropped a few close matches as they opened Friday's play with a 5-2 loss to D.C. Everest.
The swing matches came at No. 2 singles and No. 3 doubles. Currie rallied after losing the first set to D.C. Everest's Ted Kitchell 6-1 to take the second set 6-0, but dropped the match tiebreaker, 10-8. Lundt and Denis pushed Everest's Gavin Burress and Max Hoffman to a 12th game in the first set, but eventually lost, 7-5, 6-1.
Everest swept the singles matches while Rhinelander took the top two doubles flights in a dual that could have seeding implications down the line.
"They have nice numbers, quality players. We didn't have a dual (against them) last year. We saw them at the sub but we know their singles are strong and they came ready to play. We were a little flat," Nichols said. "It's something nice to learn from."
The good news is Rhinelander is scheduled to face D.C. Everest again May 9, though Nichols said Everest may be less motivated to roll out its normal lineup in the rematch, given they already have key head-to-head wins over Rhinelander for subsectional seeding purposes. Either way, Nichols said he's looking forward to the rematch.
"We talked about that at the end of the day. What we put into practice is really going to show, regardless of if they shift things around or whatnot, but it's going to be a good gauge of how from we've come from the beginning of the season toward that later part," he said.
The matches against both Wausau schools went smoothly. The Hodags made a couple of tweaks to the lineup, reuniting Pontell and Lundt at No. 3 doubles while moving Lesch to No. 3 singles and Denis to No. 4 singles.
Belanger and Roeser and Heck and Losch cruised in straight sets to move to 5-0 on the year at Nos. 1 and 2 doubles, respectively.
"Doubles, especially at that No. 1 spot, just consistency in the shot choices is a huge strength that they have," Nichols said. "Same with No. 2 doubles. They play together and work well as units. It's no longer two guys playing double, it's one team working together. Reuniting Eli and Dawson it was fun seeing that from last year."
Lesch had the closest match of anybody over the final two duals. After taking the first set 6-1 over West's Eli Hackett, Lesch found himself down 5-2 in the second set before rattling off four straight games and, eventually, the set tiebreaker 7-4.
"We had some close matches and tie breaks, and it was good to see their mental game tested as well," Nichols said.
Overall, Nichols noted he was impressed with the team's net play in singles, especially on windy days like Thursday and Friday.
"I'm excited to see that all of them are comfortable not only playing form the base line, but also at the net," he said. "I think that's something you don't always see in every time. It's a lot of just base line to base line. We're comfortable coming to the net, so I'm proud of the guys for that."
Next up, Rhinelander (4-1, 2-0 Great Northern) travels to Medford this afternoon for GNC play. With the majority of its squad returning, the Raiders figure to be the Hodags' top competition in the conference this season.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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