Riopel advances to tennis sectionals, state

Things went as expected for the Rhinelander High School girls’ tennis team in the opening round of the WIAA playoffs on Monday. 

The Hodags went 5-6 on the day and finished fourth as it hosted a WIAA Division 1 subsectional at the Hodag Dome and the RHS tennis courts.

Senior Tori Riopel advanced to sectionals with a straight set win at No. 1 singles while the Hodags came within one win of moving on in five other flights. There were hardly any surprises on the day as Rhinelander was 4-0 when it was the higher seed on the day and 1-6 as the underdog. 

“We came in, we knew there was work to do, tough teams ahead of us and we played well,” coach Matt Nichols said. “We played up to our seed, which is awesome, and we even competed above that. It was good to see.”

Riopel (22-11) cruised to sectionals after earning the second seed in the No. 1 singles draw. She controlled seventh-seeded Medford’s Marcy Raznik 6-1, 6-0 to move on to Wednesday’s sectional round in Eau Claire, where she won her first match to advance to state. 

“The two have played before and it’s kind of been that way,” Nichols said, noting Riopel’s 6-0, 6-0 win over Raznik last month in the Great Northern Conference tournament. “It was nice for her. It should be a confidence booster. She didn’t just get points out of default. She was earning a lot of those and that’s what we want to see moving into Wednesday.”

    Rhinelander’s Kayla Tessmann hits a return during a WIAA Division 1 subsectional in the Hodag Dome Monday, Oct. 2. Tessmann and No. 1 doubles partner Karmen Lopez fell in straight sets to Marshfield’s Sophia Morrell and Ava Pappe, ending the Hodag tandem’s season. (Jeremy Mayo/River News)
  

Riopel was the only one of Rhinelander’s three seniors to advance. Kayla Tessmann’s season came to an end as she and Karmen Lopez fell in straight sets, 6-3, 6-3, to Marshfield’s Sophia Morrell and Ava Pappe in the first round at No. 1 doubles. Shayla Coppenger cruised in her first match 6-0, 6-2 over Medford’s Morgan Strebig at No. 3 singles, but fell 6-1, 6-0 to second-seeded Brooklyn Costa in her second match. 

Players in the No. 1 flights of singles and doubles needed only one win to advance to sectionals, while every other flight needed two wins to advance.

Coppenger finished 22-12 on the season while Tessmann was 13-20, playing all but one of her matches at No. 1 doubles.

“It’s really hard, you see them work hard the whole season and offseason but we can think on a positive note too,” Nichols said. “At the end of the day, there’s only three Division 1 players who are going to undefeated in the (post)season. That’s the doubles winners at state and the singles winner at state. We played well. They played awesome games and I think they had a lot of fun in the process of getting here and playing today. That’s a win.”

Elsewhere, junior Dawsyn Barkus opened with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Medford’s Jaylin Machon at No. 2 singles, but then lost to top-seeded Alexis Kloth 6-0, 6-0 in the second round.

Brooke Sisel and Evelyn Sawyer met a similar fate at No. 2 doubles — beating D.C. Everest’s Madison Sazama and Kali Rutta 6-3, 6-2 in the first round only to be knocked out by top-seeded Rachel Harder and Mallory Smogoleski of Wausau West 6-1, 6-1 in Round 2. 

Teagan Turcotte and Willow VanDenHeuvel pulled off the Hodags’ lone upset of the day. As the fifth seed at No. 3 doubles, they knocked off fourth-seeded Aubrey Layton and Morgan Vechinski of Marshfield 7-5, 6-4 in the first round before falling to top-seeded Savanna Danielson and Ingrid Mahler 6-0, 6-3 of Wausau West. 

Maya Patrick, the sixth seeded in the No. 4 singles draw, lost to Lakeland’s Ellie Baker in straight sets, 6-4, 6-4.

“There were a lot of good rallies. It’s just tough. It’s the last one of the season for a lot of these girls but we’re proud of how they played and proud of the season,” Nichols said. “We look from our team last year to this year and we have a lot of players that have stepped up and owned those varsity spots. It’s their first round at conference, subsectional. There’s some growing pains there and I think we responded really well. We’ve learned a lot and we’ve grown a lot throughout the season.”

Riopel defeated Eau Claire North junior Miah Nelson (16-10) in the first round of sectionals Wednesday morning in a match tiebreaker 6-4, 1-6, 11-9. As a result, Riopel earned an automatic bid to next week’s WIAA state tournament in Madison. The sectional tournament was ongoing as of press time for today’s edition and a full report will be published in Tuesday’s River News.

RELATED: RHS Sports Recap: Wednesday, Oct. 4

Nichols said he was optimistic going into the match, as Riopel and Nelson had comparable results against common opponents. 

“That’s kind of what you hope for when you go. You expect a competitive match,” he said. “It doesn’t matter what seed you are, you’re playing No. 1 singles and the top four from the other sub. You’ve just got to be ready to play your best and, if she does, she’s in a very winnable match.” 

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].