May 22, 2023 at 7:24 a.m.
Nine is fine
Rhinelander tennis continues GNC dominance in nearly-perfect fashion
Nine is fine
Rhinelander won six of the seven flights, and lost the championship in the other in a match tiebreaker, as it rolled to victory in the Great Northern Conference tournament at Lakeland Union High School.
The Hodags had a clean sweep of the conference awards. Dalton Fritz took singles player of the year honors and the No. 1 singles crown despite being seeded third in the five-player draw. Joey Belanger and Layne Roeser reprised their roles as the doubles players of the year, taking the top flight in dominant fashion.
Matt Nichols, who has been at the helm for the last three Hodag conference titles, finally got the nod from his colleagues and was voted coach of the year for the first time.
The Hodags also rolled to the titles with John Currie at No. 2 singles, Nick Lesch at 4 singles, Charlie Heck and Leo Losch at No. 2 doubles and Eli Lundt and Dawson Pontell at No. 3 doubles.
Gavin Denis fell to Medford's Conner Klingbeil at No. 3 singles in a match that had three separate tiebreakers before Klingbiel prevailed 7-6 (4), 6-7 (3), 10-8. That's all that kept Rhinelander from being the first team, boys or girls, to earn a perfect score at the conference meet.
"It was such an exciting day and everyone played so well," Nichols said. "Obviously, we came just a couple of points short at No. 3 singles. Gavin played a great game. I'm super proud of the way he finished that match. Unfortunate for the loss but six wins and a second place, hard to complain."
Fritz, hindered by a regular season split against Lakeland's Dominic Gironella and the fact that he did not play Medford's Brayden Balciar during the regular season, was relegated to the third seed in the No. 1 singles draw. He beat both rivals Thursday on his way to the conference title.
"Those top three are all really close and it's just who's going to come to play and who's going to play the best tennis on that day. They're all able to compete with each other," Nichols said. "Dalton's improved so much over the season, lot of strokes that he used throughout the day he's just developed and really worked hard at - especially his finishing shots came into play in both matches. He was mentally there and it was just really fun to see all of his hard work pay off."
Fritz dropped the first set of his semifinal match against Gironella 3-6, but rallied to win the second 7-5 to force a 10-point match tiebreaker. Fritz never trailed in the tiebreak and came up with two big serves down the stretch that set up winners as he took the decider, 10-5.
"It's something I've worked on a lot over the summer and winter, and after practice. Sometimes I stay and work on serves," Fritz said. "We both know our strengths and weaknesses and were just able to pull it out in the end."
Fritz then had the measure of Balciar in the championship match, taking the first set 6-4. The two were tied at 3-3 in the second set when Nichols said Balciar took a medical timeout to check out a balky knee. Fritz won three of the final four games from there to claim the back.
"I'd say kind of similar to Lakeland in that he was finishing a lot of those shots in the court," Nichols said. "Not as long of rallies, but his serve came to play. There were a lot of unreturned serves and a lot of kill shots around the service line."
Fritz, a junior, made a huge jump from last year, going from the conference's No. 4 singles champ to its No. 1 champ.
"It's a pretty big jump. The people that I play are way harder and it's a lot more fun to play with them. I like being pushed a lot," he said.
Things were much less challenging for Roeser and Belanger, who capped off their second straight No. 1 doubles championship in convincing fashion. They beat Medford's Mason Reimann and Parker Hill in the semifinals, and Pacelli's Keagan Austreng and Marcus Lansing in the finals by matching 6-0, 6-1 scores.
"We put in the work every day, come to practice, give our best effort and it definitely shows for us when it matters," Belanger said.
In fact, all the doubles champions from this year were carbon copies of last year. Charlie Heck and Leo Losch took home another title at No. 2 doubles while Eli Lundt and Dawson Pontell defended their crown at No. 3.
Heck said chemistry and continuity have been the secret to the Hodags' success in doubles.
"We've just to a really good connection with our doubles partners," he said. "That helps a lot, not harping on your partner for a mistake and just realizing (it's) on to the next point. We've done a good job of that. I think the other doubles partners on this team are the same way. They're really good friends, but it translates to the court. You see that with the success."
Losch and Heck rolled Lakeland's Isaac Olson and Jayson Wahlgren 6-0, 6-0 in the semifinals on Thursday and then knocked off Pacelli's Eli Robinson and Hunter Wrenzenski 6-1, 6-3 in the finals. Lundt and Pontell cruised 6-0, 6-0 over Pacelli's Dominic Kroenig and Josh Opaneye in the semifinals and 6-1, 6-1 over Lakeland's Sawyer Brown and Gage Bowe in the finals.
"I think that was kind of the story of the day for all three flights there," Nichols said. "They're just so strong. It's nice when you have the depth on the team because you can really put together good singles and good doubles. They put the gas down and never hit the breaks."
Currie knocked off Lakeland's Carson Tegland 6-0, 6-4 in the semifinals at No. 2 singles, setting up a championship match against fellow conference unbeaten Saskatoon Damm of Medford. The two didn't face each other in the regular season, but Currie controlled Thursday's match 6-2, 6-4 to win the No. 2 title a year after being the conference champ at No. 3 singles.
"(Damm) is a solid player, very consistent. He was pushed a bit. It ended up 6-2, 6-4 in the finals, but I felt like he was in control as they rallied back and fourth," Nichols noted.
After beating Medford's Brett Lundy 6-1, 6-2 in the semifinals, top-seeded Lesch rallied from down a set to beat Antigo's Garrett Tomczyk 5-7, 6-4, 10-4 to win the No. 4 singles title.
"That's just huge for his mental game, knowing that he can rally from behind and, not only that, but once you force that tiebreak you rallied your way back into, he can win that too," Nichols said.
It all added up to another dominant victory for the Hodags, who finished 49 points ahead of Medford for the overall conference title. In addition to nine straight overall conference titles, the Hodags have won 55 consecutive conference duals going back to 2016 and have won seven straight conference tournaments.
"I think it speaks to the history and the future. We're going to keep going and keep working hard in the offseason, keep working hard in practice and we want to keep the tradition alive," Nichols said.
Rhinelander hopes to keep the momentum going this week against tougher competition. WIAA subsectional play took place yesterday in Wausau and concluded after press time for today's edition. Those who advanced will play again tomorrow in a WIAA Division 1 sectional in Eau Claire where the top four finishers at No. 1 singles and No. 1 doubles, as well as the sectional champions in the No. 2 singles and doubles flights, will earn automatic berths to the WIAA individual state meet next week in Madison.
"It's going to be a challenge, but we'll get through subsectionals first and take on sectionals," Losch said. "We're really excited. We're just going to go in confident. There's going to be good competition but we're excited."
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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