Hodag tennis goes 2-3 in Wausau

The Rhinelander High School girls’ tennis team has played plenty of non-conference competition and is now ready to begin its Great Northern Conference title defense. 

The Hodags took part in their final non-conference matches before the GNC season Friday and Saturday, going 2-3 in another invite at Wausau West High School. That puts the Hodags at 7-10 overall on the fall prior to finally opening the conference slate at home against Pacelli this afternoon.

Though Rhinelander is the last of the eight GNC schools to begin league play, and thus sits at the bottom of the conference standings at the moment, coach Matt Nichols said all the non-conference play will serve the team well as it enters the heart of the schedule.

“I think it’s just the experience,” he said. “We saw a wide variety of players, a wide variety of strategies. That allowed us to implement our own strategies, practice new shots and that really sets us up well for conference — whether we’ll playing someone who’s a very strong hitter, very consistent. I think we’re ready to face anyone that we’ll see in conference.”

Rhinelander won one of three matches during Friday’s play, defeating Wausau East 6-1. The Hodags fell 6-1 to Ashwaubenon and 5-2 to Marshfield. The matches against Wausau East and Marshfield held extra significance as both teams are in the same subsectional as the Hodags. 

“We had a nice win over East,” Nichols said. “Every flight is a huge difference, not only for the team score but when we think about subsectionals. It’s just that confidence boost and then when we go into seeding, that’s always a huge plus. Marshfield, a loss to them, but we had some nice flight wins.”

Saturday’s play began with a 6-1 loss to Madison Memorial before the Hodags closed out the tournament with a 4-3 win over Chippewa Falls. Rhinelander won only one of the four flights that went to a match tiebreaker in that dual, but Kayla Tessmann and Karmen Lopez’s 4-6, 6-1, 10-6 win over Makenna Johnston and Joel Polnaszek at No. 1 doubles was enough to clinch the overall victory.

“We only got one of them, but one made a huge difference in the team score,” Nichols said. “It was nice to see competitive matches. We rallied back in at least two of them to force that match tiebreak. It’s nice to see them compete and then compete in the tiebreak.”

Senior Shayla Coppenger had the most successful weekend for the Hodags, going 4-1 overall. She partnered with Evelyn Sawyer at No. 2 doubles to pick up Rhinelander’s lone win against Ashwaubenon, a 7-5, 6-0 win over Arya Shankar-Damodhar and Lily Brown. Coppenger returned to No. 3 singles after that and won three of her four matches there, including a 2-6, 6-4, 10-8 triumph over Marshfield’s Payton Koran.

“We played some competitive teams and that’s an awesome record off that tourney,” Nichols said. “Shayla had a really tight match (against Marshfield) and that was really one of the highlights of the weekend — not only in that match but that match really exemplified it — just pushing through, trusting her game and ending up on top.”

Tori Riopel also ended the weekend above .500, going 3-2 at the No. 1 singles flight. Her weekend included key subsectional wins over Wausau East and Marshfield, and a straight set win against Chippewa Falls. 

“That was a big weekend for her. The loss to Ashwaubenon was a nice, close match. It didn’t show, but she had a tough battle with Madison Memorial,” Nichols said. “She had a great weekend, just getting more competitive tennis in and really just building in that No. 1 singles experience and prepping herself for better tennis to come.”

Sawyer also finished above .500 for the weekend. After teaming with Coppenger against Ashwaubenon, Sawyer was back with Brooke Sisel and the two split their remaining matches over the weekends. The losses came in match tiebreakers against Marshfield and Chippewa Falls.

Dawsyn Barkus went 2-3 on the weekend at No. 2 singles and the Hodags used a few different combinations at No. 4 singles and No. 3 doubles. Rhinelander’s only win out of those flights game against Wausau East where Willow Mutter and Maddie Legrey picked up a 6-0, 6-0 win at No. 3 doubles.

“We’re still trying to figure out that No. 3 doubles and No. 4 singles, just waiting to see if there’s anyone that just comes and grabs and commands it,” Nichols said. “We have a group of girls that are all solid and we’re just trying to figure out what combination is going to make our team the strongest.” 

The Hodags will begin the conference schedule looking up at the remainder of the GNC. Everyone, with the exception of Lakeland (1-0), has played at least two conference duals so far. The Hodags currently sit 28 points — the equivalent to two 7-0 sweeps — behind leader Wausau Newman (2-1). 

After opening conference play against Pacelli this afternoon, the Hodags will head to Phillips for another league dual on Thursday.

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].