Hodag tennis goes 2-4 in Wausau

The Rhinelander High School girls’ tennis team rebounded from a winless day on Monday, taking two of its final three matches to finish 2-4 overall in the Wausau West Invite that concluded Tuesday.

The Hodags faced other Division 1 competition from the northern half of the state, falling to Pulaski, Wausau West and Hudson by matching 6-1 scores on Monday. Rhinelander fell to Bay Port 5-2 on Tuesday but picked up a 6-1 win over Green Bay Preble and closed the tournament with a 5-2 victory over River Falls.

“It sounds cliché, but a lot of growth between that first match and that sixth match,” Hodag coach Matt Nichols said. “But then the other thing that stood out was just the grit we had, especially that sixth match. It’s a grind and the girls really pushed themselves and gave it their best effort in that last match of the tourney.”

Senior Tori Riopel finished with a 4-2 record at No. 1 singles, winning her final four matches of the tournament. After falling to Pulaski’s Ruth Krause in a match tiebreaker and to Wausau West’s Lilly Wittwer in straight sets, Riopel ended Monday’s play by rallying for a 3-6, 7-5 10-3 victory over Hudson’s Greta Laurel.

She followed by taking all three matches on Tuesday in straight sets.

“I think Tori, all her strokes are starting to come together, strategy’s coming together and I think, most importantly, this is the strongest I’ve seen her mentally, just being able to push through in those tight matches,” Nichols said. “We saw two match tiebreaks yesterday. She dropped the first and she was able to rally back. That second match tiebreak that had, not only to get to the tiebreak, but to push through, that’s a draining day right there.”

Junior Dawsyn Barkus also went 4-2 in the tournament. She picked up Rhinelander’s lone win against Wausau West on Monday, outlasting Rachael Harder 7-5, 6-3. Like Riopel, Barkus took all three of her matches Tuesday in straight sets. Shayla Coppenger picked up a pair of wins on Tuesday and finished 2-4 for the tournament. 

“Dawsyn and Shayla were part of the lineup last year,” Nichols said. “Both of them, I think, Shayla, her slice and topspin combo and Dawsyn her deep topspin shots and consistency, those are huge.”

In doubles, the No. 1 team of senior Kayla Tessmann and junior Karmen Lopez scored the lone win against Pulaski, defeating Sarah Johnson and Josie Steenot 6-3, 7-5. The two dropped four straight matches after that before closing with a 6-4, 4-6, 10-3 win over River Fall’s Avery Tokheim and Bell Snow.

“No. 1 doubles, there’s some growing pains there,” Nichols said. “We’ve got a new pairing. Karmen made a big leap in the lineup but I’d say the same thing there, things are starting to click — movement on the court, shots. It’s fun to see that all come together.”

The two days featured a number of close matches. Rhinelander was 2-4 in matches that were decided by match tiebreakers. Additionally, there were 10 sets that went the full 12 games and/or concluded in a tiebreaker. The Hodags went 7-3 in those sets.

“You gain something from every match, but the most fun to watch and the most fun to play are those competitive matches where it’s back and forth and you’re really close to your opponent,” Nichols said. “We had a lot of those. Maybe not necessarily every match, but every flight, at one point, was in a tight match where they got pushed.”

Evelyn Sawyer picked up two wins at No. 2 doubles with Maya Patrick, who moved over from No. 4 singles Tuesday with Brooke Sisel out of the lineup. Freshman Becca Brost stepped in at No. 4 singles and picked up her first career varsity win 6-1, 6-3 over Green Bay Preble’s Erin Krueger.

“She has a great attitude. She comes to play, puts her best effort in all the time and it’s really cool to see a freshman jump into the lineup, own it and get a win there,” Nichols said.

Teagan Turcotte and Willow VanDenHeuvel went 1-4 together at No. 3 doubles. Turcotte dropped the opening match of the tournament with partner Maddie Legrey and then played with VanDenHeuvel for the remainder of the invite. 

Rhinelander (5-7, 0-0) will return to Wausau again today and tomorrow for another invitational before opening Great Northern Conference play at home against Pacelli on Tuesday. 

“We’re looking forward to it. There’s a lot of good tennis down there,” Nichols said of returning to Wausau for what will be the second of three two-day invites the Hodags play down there this season. “It’s a shorter drive and we get two days of practice, plenty of time to work on a couple of things and then we get to test them out right away.” 

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].