May 18, 2023 at 3:37 p.m.
RHS tennis downs Marshfield in final dual
The Hodags rolled in doubles and took three of four matches with an altered singles lineup to defeat Marshfield 6-1 in non-conference play.
The meet served as a final chance for the Hodags (17-6, 8-0 Great Northern) to improve their resume against a team they will face this Monday at a WIAA Division 1 subsectional in Wausau.
"In doubles we got decisive wins and in singles, with the Nos. 2, 3, 4 all being bumped up, getting wins there helps a lot, theoretically it puts you ahead of the guy right under you," Hodag coach Matt Nichols said of how Tuesday's win should help the Hodags' subsectional seeding.
Rhinelander was without No. 2 singles player John Currie due to an educational commitment. That meant everyone else in the singles lineup moved up a flight - and they all picked up wins in their elevated roles. Gavin Denis edged Marshfield's Dillon Scheuer 6-1, 4-6, 10-7 at No. 2, Nick Lesch won nine of the final 11 games to beat Will Jepson 7-5, 6-2 at No. 3. Max Durkee fended off Antonio Koehn, 6-1, 2-6, 10-5 in the fourth flight.
"We had a lot of close matches. We were down in some of them and the guys just, mentally, are there at the top of their game. They were able to either come back or just close on those match tiebreaks," Nichols said. "Both (Gavin and Max) controlled them really well. It was fun to see them close that out. Nick, he was down that first set 4-5 and came back to win 7-5. It was nice to see him get pushed and him respond and end up on top."
Rhinelander dominated Tuesday's three doubles matches, dropping one game in the three flights. The teams of Joey Belanger and Layne Roeser, and Eli Lundt and Dawson Pontell were 6-0, 6-0 winners at Nos. 1 and 3. Leo Losch and Charlie Heck won 6-1, 6-0 at No. 2 against Aran Tirathi and Henry Johnson.
"Our doubles really weren't pushed. We dropped one game across all three fights," Nichols said.
Dalton Fritz suffered Rhinelander's lone loss, falling to Marshfield's Kai Rens 6-4, 6-4 in the top flight of singles. Fritz lost to Rens in a match tiebreaker when the two played last month at a tournament in Wausau.
"Dalton, he didn't get the win, but still a close one. I think Marshfield No. 1 singles will probably finish third in the conference. So, it was close sets, 4-6, 4-6. That was the nice loss," Nichols said, noting that he's hopeful that Fritz will still get a top-four seed and, theoretically, an easier draw to help him get through to the sectional round.
Before postseason play, Rhinelander has the matter of locking up its ninth straight Great Northern Conference title, which it was set to do Thursday in the conference meet at Lakeland. The Hodags entered the day 32 points ahead of Medford and were in a position to mathematically lock up the title prior to Thursday's play, based on collecting at least five first-round byes in seeding.
Monday's subsectional will take place at Wausau West High School. The seven-team meet will be a reprise of the Wisconsin Valley Conference meet, plus Rhinelander. The Hodags went 5-2 in dual meets against the Valley this year, losing 4-3 to WVC-leading Stevens Point. The Rhinelander split a pair of matches with the second-place team in the Valley, D.C. Everest.
The top four players or pairs at the No. 1 flights of singles and doubles, and the top two in all other flights will advance to Wednesday's sectional round in Eau Claire.
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.