May 30, 2023 at 7:14 a.m.
Belanger, Roeser punch state tennis ticket
Belanger, Roeser punch state tennis ticket
Senior Layne Roeser and junior Joey Belanger checked both boxes on Wednesday as they won their opening round match and finished third overall in the No. 1 doubles flight in a WIAA Division 1 sectional in Eau Claire.
The pair represent the Hodags' first state qualifiers since 2019, when Connor Young and Logan Oestreich received a special exemption into the state doubles field. They also became the first Rhinelander entry to qualify directly through sectional play since Rahul Jain in 2008.
"It's very rewarding. We had a goal at the beginning of the year to make it to state and we finally did it," Roeser said. "It felt good being the first doubles team that coach (Matt) Nichols has coached to make it to state."
It was part of a solid day overall for the Hodags, who had advanced to sectionals in five flights. The Hodags went 4-6 in their matches and wound up third overall in the 15-team sectional.
Belanger and Roeser, the No. 1 seed out of the Wausau West subsectional, punched their ticket to state thanks to a 6-2, 6-4 win in the opening round against the fourth seed from the Menomonie subsectional, Colman Selvig and Jaxon Ruppelt of Eau Claire North.
"It's awesome. Not only do you have the piece of mind that, 'Hey, we're automatically going to state, we can start planning for that,' even more than that is we got two more matches against state-qualified teams," Nichols said. "We got a win on the end there, which is pretty awesome. They can already have that confidence that there's a team going to be a state that they've beaten. They can compete down there too."
Belanger and Roeser appeared to be in control of their first match, up 4-0 in the second set before Selvig and Ruppelt made a push to get back to 4-3. The Hodag pair buckled down from there to advance.
"What was going through my mind is, 'OK, we're up by a lot, there's no way we can blow this.' Then, all of a sudden it was 4-3 and we realized we needed to start going," Belanger said.
The two are 23-3 together on the season. Two of those loses came against the same pair, Cole Witucki and Noah Reckin of Menomonie. The Menomonie pair took the first set 6-0 from Belanger and Roeser in Wednesday's semifinal before the Hodag tandem fought back, forcing a second-set tiebreaker that they ultimately dropped, 10-8.
"Against Menomonie we weren't doing very good the first set," Belanger said. "We got 6-0'ed and we started to be a lot more consistent in the second set. We started to make them makes some errors, but I guess we just couldn't get it done."
Belanger and Roeser bounced back with a 6-4, 6-2 win over New Richmond's Drew Eckert and Nathan Devereux in the third-place match.
"I thought they had nice consistent serves, good returns," Nichols said of Belanger and Roeser's play on Wednesday. "They had some nice finishing shots and I think, toward the end, they were really starting to put balls away. They were just really strong, smart placement of a lot of balls, good vision of the court and good movement together. They're a nice unit on the court, working as a team."
As of press time for today's edition, the Hodags were awaiting word if they would be joined at state via a special qualifier for their No. 2 doubles team of seniors Leo Losch and Charlie Heck. That pair nearly made it through directly as sectional champions. After defeating Menomonie's Brady Goodman and Charlie Behrend in straight sets in the semifinals, Heck and Losch fell 7-5, 6-1 to Eau Claire Memorial's Ben Roberts and Jack Willems in the finals. The pair compiled a 23-4 record this season.
"Charlie and Leo, I thought were just super close to state as well, if they would have won. Close first set, 5-7 and it was back and forth the whole way," Nichols said. "Even that second set, the score didn't show it, but it was a long one. It was a lot of deuce/ad, a lot of tight games.
"Both of them, if it's their last one, they're happy they lost to a good team. It wasn't that they beat themselves. They played good teams. They played hard and they just ended up short."
The Hodags also took second with the No. 3 doubles squad of Eli Lundt and Dawson Pontell (20-4). They defeated New Richmond's Jacob DeGear and Bennett Heiss in the semifinals before losing to Eau Claire Memorial's Graham Tomkovick and Jackson Sailing in the finals.
"It's really cool to see. We know we had a really strong doubles squad. It was great for the other two to get those second-place finishes. Both flights played really well," Nichols said.
Junior Dalton Fritz (12-13) was stopped one match away from state in the No. 1 singles draw, but faced a tough task against the top seed from the Menomonie subsectional, falling 6-1, 6-1 to Eau Claire Memorial's Evan Birkholz.
"We saw that one coming, good player, but it's just good experience," Nichols said. "He jumped from No. 4 (singles, last year). Just to make it to sectionals was huge. He got a couple of games down there. That was nice for him."
Nick Lesch (14-9) lost both of his matches on Wednesday and settled for fourth at No. 4 singles He fell to Eau Claire Memorial's Will Nordstrum and New Richmond's Matt Westmoreland, both in straight sets.
"He pushed games, was competitive and got that experience. It's huge for his growth," Nichols said.
Belanger and Roeser were set to learn their first-round opponent for the 100th annual WIAA state boys' tennis tournament over the weekend. Play will begin Thursday at Nielsen Tennis Stadium in Madison.
After taking a couple of days off during the Memorial Day weekend holiday, Nichols said Belanger and Roeser would square off against Heck and Losch, along with some alumni, in preparation for the tournament.
"There's just a couple of little tweaks with their positioning and their movement on the court," he said. "They have a really well-rounded game, so there's not much we have to really focus on. It's just that fine-tuning. We'll practice. We'll throw some guys at them just to get experience playing together and playing so more matches."
Both Roeser and Belanger said they hope to play well in Madison and at least advance out of the first round. Either way, they said it will be a good way to close out the season.
"This could possibly be the last time I go to state for any high school sport," Belanger said. "I hope it's not, but I'm glad I get to do it with my best buddy."
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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