Rising from the brink

Plenty of thoughts went through Rhinelander senior Tori Riopel’s mind last Wednesday as she stared down four successive points that could have ended her high school tennis career.

Giving up was not one of them. 

Riopel rallied from down 9-5 in a 10-point match tiebreaker to defeat Eau Claire North’s Miah Nelson 6-4, 1-6, 11-9 in a quarterfinal match at No. 1 singles during a WIAA Division 1 sectional tournament at the Menard Tennis Center in Eau Claire.

That match was the difference between Riopel automatically punching a ticket to this week’s state tournament in Madison and having to wait and hope to receive a special exemption to become Rhinelander’s second state qualifier in the last three years. 

Riopel eventually went on to finish third in the eight-player draw but it was the wild comeback against Nelson in the quarterfinals that made it all possible.

“The whole time I was getting upset knowing that I was down and I was about to lose,” Riopel said, when asked about her thought process after Nelson earned a quadruple match point opportunity. “Then I just getting the point and when it was 9-9, I was like, ‘OK, I have a chance now,’”

    Rhinelander’s Tori Riopel sits at her bench during a medical timeout in a match against Eau Claire North’s Miah Nelson during a WIAA Division 1 girls’ tennis sectional tournament in Eau Claire Wednesday, Oct. 4. Tied 9-9 in a match tiebreaker at the point of the stoppage, Riopel won the final two points to claim the match. (Brett LaBore/Lakeland Times)
  

After Riopel’s stunning rally to pull even in the tiebreaker, Nelson called a medical timeout. While the cause of her ailment wasn’t all that clear to the Hodag camp, the fact that Riopel was now firmly in control of her own destiny was.

Riopel followed with an ace after the stoppage and then finished on a winner to punch her ticket to Madison.

“I figured it was going to be harder for her and I needed to go out there and play as hard as I could because she was already down,” she said. “That serve, when I got it in and she didn’t hit it back, I was like, ‘OK I just need one more’ and I got it.”

That moment was a culmination for Riopel, a four-year starter for the Hodag tennis team. She was the top player in the GNC at No. 4 singles as a freshman, won the conference tournament and No. 3 singles as a sophomore before vaulting up to No. 1 singles last year. 

“That tiebreak, it was really cool to see just the mental game and staying strong through the whole thing,” Hodag tennis coach Matt Nichols said. “We’ve worked a lot on that, she’s worked a lot on that and it was cool to see it really come to fruition at a critical point in her season, in her career.”

Riopel earned the right to play at least three more matches in her high school career by beating Nelson, the enormity of that fact seemed to set in shortly after match point. 

“I was just shaking. I started crying because I was happy,” she said. “Then Matt and (assistant coach Wil) Losch came over there and I was crying. I was just so happy that I made it.” 

“It was pretty emotional seeing her qualify,” Nichols added. “I know that was one of her goals and I definitely had that goal for her. You think of all the time you put in and other players do the exact same thing and they just don’t get the opportunity, so it’s really cool to see all that work and effort, the blood, the tears, the sweat all pay off in that opportunity of getting to go to state.”

Riopel’s day at sectionals was not over following the win. She then faced Eau Claire Memorial’s Ava Erickson in the semifinals, where she fell 6-2, 6-0. She was up 6-3, 2-1 on Hudson’s Anna Runck in the third-place match when Runck retired. 

“She had an awesome match against Eau Claire Memorial,” Nichols said. “It was the best tennis I’ve seen this season, just a very competitive match both ways. Against Hudson, she kind of carried that through and commanded the points. If there were second serves, easy balls, the point was over. You could tell Hudson was kind of struggling because there was no big fault in Tori’s game that she could really try to capitalize on.”

It’s all been part of a strong senior year for Riopel, as she’s posted a 24-12 record, playing almost exclusively at No. 1 singles. She finished second in the GNC this year behind two-time player of the year Natalie Cooper of Pacelli. Riopel pointed to a match last month against Wausau Newman’s Reagan Herdrich as a turning point in her game, and she’s played some of her best tennis since.

“I think my strokes have gotten way harder and my game is better than it was last year,” she said.

“I think it’s just in the finishing shots,” Nichols added. “Even as a freshman when she was at No. 4 singles, she was very consistent. She can hold a rally and that’s still a skill we need at No. 1 singles, but we can go beyond that. We can play the defense. We can keep the rally from the baseline, but if that ball’s close to the service line, or there’s a weak second serve, she just puts the ball away and we have those finishing shots.”

Now, Riopel is preparing for at least one more match in her high school career. She did not get the easiest draw for state, however. She will face Muskego senior Emily Pan (13-3), who received the No. 12 seed in the bracket, Thursday morning in Madison. Only the top 16 players are seeded and the remaining players are placed in the bracket randomly.

The team is practicing this week, mainly inside the Hodag Dome, to prepare for playing on the indoor courts at Nielsen Tennis Stadium.

“We’ll have practice in a smaller group and individualized toward Tori’s game and making sure she’s as ready as she ever can be for state,” Nichols said. “She’s worked hard. We’ve done a lot throughout the season so it’s not a lot of big stuff. It’s a lot of fine-tuning and things that just didn’t click 100% at sectionals. We’re going to try to sift those out.”

Nichols said the for Riopel will be to play relaxed and have fun, whatever the outcome. Riopel admitted she’ll likely be nervous, but she also knows she has nothing to lose, having already achieved the goal for her senior year.

“When I go there, I just want to go and play how I did in the second two matches, just relaxed, confident. I don’t want to be all nervous and play scared,” she said.

Riopel is second Rhinelander state qualifier in two years, joining Annika Johnson, who made it into the field on a special exemption in 2021. She became the first Rhinelander entry to earn a trip to state through qualifying at sectionals since the doubles team of Eva O’Melia and Maddie Barnes in 2015. 

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].