May 25, 2023 at 7:58 a.m.
Hodag tennis sends five flights to sectionals
Hodag tennis sends five flights to sectionals
The Hodags were 6-2 in contested matches and advanced five flights to sectionals as they took second as a team in the Wausau West sectional.
Rhinelander advanced all three doubles teams, which all earned No. 1 seeds in their respective draws. Nick Lesch made it through with a pair of victories at No. 4 singles and GNC singles player of the year Dalton Fritz avenged a pair of losses earlier this season to advance at the top singles flight.
"The ones we lost, I thought they played great tennis. It was a nice way to end the season. It was awesome for all the guys that qualified on. We'll have a nice team going down to Eau Claire on Wednesday," Hodag coach Matt Nichols said.
The No. 1 singles and doubles flights needed to be only among the top four teams remaining in the draw to advance. With only seven teams in the subsectional, that meant the Rhinelander pair of Layne Roeser and Joey Belanger (21-1) got a free pass into Wednesday's sectional round in Eau Claire as the top seed.
Fritz (12-12) had a harder path at No. 1 singles, drawing the fifth seed in the bracket and a rematch with Marshfield's Kai Rens, who beat Fritz twice during the regular season.
That fact would not have been apparent, judging from their play in the first set. Rens failed to hold serve in any of his games as Fritz rolled to a 6-2 win in the opener. The two held serve through the first seven games of the second set before Fritz broke Rens again to go up 5-3. Rens broke Fritz to get back on serve, but Rens failed to hold it again, ending with a double fault as Fritz took the match with a 6-3 win in the second set.
"It really just goes to show how much he's put into the game, practicing all the effort. He's improved so much and it's just super cool to get that win when it really matters," Nichols said of Fritz, who had lost in a match tiebreaker and in straight sets in two previous matches against Rens.
Things were much less dramatic over in doubles where the Hodags all rested through the first round and then cruised in the semifinals.
Charlie Heck and Leo Losch (22-3) made short work of fourth-seeded Ethan Hochberger and Ben Winkels of D.C. Everest in their second-round match, winning 6-1, 6-0. Eli Lundt and Dawson Pontell (19-3) had similar success in the third flight, knocking off fifth-seeded Elliot Harding and Kaedyn Kelly of Wausau East 6-1, 6-0.
"All the doubles, with the one seed, we knew the matches wouldn't be quite as tight as some of the singles, but they still performed well," Nichols said. "They still played hard and they got some big wins. It's really nice to see that going into sectionals."
Lesch (15-7) received the third seed in the No. 4 singles draw and needed to win twice to advance. He rolled through his first match 6-0, 6-0 over sixth-seeded Carter Clements of Wausau East. He then avenged a 6-0, 6-4 loss to Everest's Ethan Giese back on April 14, but knocking off the second seed 6-3, 6-1.
"He played some of the best tennis I've seen him play this whole season," Nichols said. "He just was able to close out points really well and that gave him the match. It was great to see."
The Hodags nearly advanced in a sixth flight, but junior John Currie came up short in a match tiebreaker against Stevens Point's Marek Woytasik in the second round at No. 2 singles. Woytasik came up with four aces and pulled away late to a 10-5 win in the tiebreak. After dropping the opening set 6-0, Currie rallied to take the second set 6-4 and force the decider.
"Tiebreaks, they go either way, but it was super fun to watch him," Nichols said. "Losing that first one 0-6 to bounce back and take that second set. He still competed (in the tiebreaker), I think SPASH just turned it up a notch. Good for SPASH. It sucks (for John), but he played good tennis all the way through and he can be proud of that. I'm proud of that."
Currie (18-7), who defeated Wausau East's Arjay Yang 6-2, 6-1 in the first round, was stopped one round short of sectionals for the second straight year.
Gavin Denis (12-12) also missed sectionals by a round at No. 3 singles. Denis was the second seed in the flight and received a bye into the second round, but lost to D.C. Everest's Calvin Gasall 6-2, 6-2. Denis defeated Gasall 6-3, 7-6 (5) when the two played May 9, which was the deciding point in the Hodags' 4-3 dual meet win over the Evergreens.
"I think, compared to when we played Everest before, Everest was a bit more consistent," Nichols said. "Some of the shots Gavin would normally hit we just didn't have today. That was the difference. It was a lot of close games. I thought it could go either way. It didn't go in our favor, but it was a close match and it was good to see him compete hard."
Sectional play was ongoing in Eau Claire as of press time on Wednesday. Belanger and Roeser had earned their way into the WIAA state tournament by virtue of beating Colman Selvig and Jaxon Ruppelt of Eau Claire North 6-4, 6-2 in the first round. Fritz fell 6-1, 6-1 to the top seed from the Menomonie subsectional, Evan Birkholz of Eau Claire Memorial, costing him a chance at an automatic berth.
The only other entry with a chance to earn an automatic state bid was Losch and Heck at No. 2 doubles, where they needed to win a four-team bracket.
Losch, Heck, Lundt, Pontell and Lesch were guaranteed two matches on Wednesday, regardless of how their first round went. Belanger and Roeser were set to play two more matches on Wednesday to determine their final sectional placement.
"It's sectionals. All the matches are going to be tight. We've got to expect that and it's just who can stick it out longer," Nichols said.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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