Hodag netters keep pace in GNC, down Antigo 6-1

The Rhinelander High School girls’ tennis team kept within shouting distance of another Great Northern Conference title entering the final week of the regular season but the Hodags will need a strong effort to lock up their 12th conference title in 14 years.

The Hodags swept doubles and nearly did the same in singles on Thursday to defeat Antigo 6-1 in a GNC dual at the RHS tennis courts. 

That win kept Rhinelander 16 points behind Lakeland with a match in hand on the T-Birds entering the final week of the regular season — which includes a pivotal dual between the teams this afternoon in Minocqua leading into Thursday’s conference tournament in Rhinelander. 

Medford did Rhinelander no favors in its quest to catch Lakeland, falling at home to the T-Birds 6-1 on Thursday after beating Lakeland 4-3 in a non-conference invite last weekend in Wausau. 

“We’re just looking to get as many points as possible. A team win is nice and 6-1 is extra points, so that’s good,” Hodag coach Matt Nichols said. “It really puts that last match, a lot of weight on it. Whoever wins that is probably going to lead going into the conference, which is just crazy. And Newman isn’t far out either. It’s a tight race. It’s exciting.”

The Hodags had a relatively easy time in the top three singles flights on Thursday. Tori Riopel was a  6-4, 6-3 winner over Molly Neufeld in the top flight, Dawsyn Barkus rolled Jacqueline Belling 6-1, 6-1 at No. 2 and Shayla Coppenger was a 6-1, 6-0 winner at No. 3. 

“Singles, just the overall consistency of the play,” Nichols said. “Tori struggled with that but she cleaned it up and got the win. I think depth, especially with Shayla and Dawsyn, just really deep shots and consistency. I didn’t see many errors on their side. They just played the game super well.”

Rhinelander cruised in doubles. Kayla Tessmann and Karmen Lopez were 6-2, 6-2 winners at the top flight, Evelyn Sawyer and Brooke Sisel won 6-1, 6-0 at No. 2 and Teagen Turcotte and Willow VanDenHeuvel won 6-4, 6-1 at No. 3.

“I think our doubles, it was nice to see them take care of business, to put it frankly,” Nichols said “We’ve struggled there a little bit and it was nice for them to get some wins, get some confidence.”

The Hodags’ lone loss came at No. 4 where Maya Patrick was engaged in a marathon match with Antigo’s Julie Volpentesta. Volpentesta snuck out a second-set tiebreaker and eventually won 2-6, 7-6 (3), 6-4 in a match that took roughly 2 hours, 45 minutes to complete.

“Maya, just a great game, a really good competitor,” Nichols said. “It was kind of crazy to see so many balls land right by that baseline, but she played a great game. She played hard the whole time and we’re proud of her for it.”

Volpentesta ultimately broke Patrick in the 10th game of the third set to clinch the match as dusk fell on the RHS tennis courts. Visibility was becoming an issue with no lights on the RHS tennis courts. However, Nichols indicated that the two would have likely tried to play on had Patrick held serve and pushed the set to 5-5.

“I’ve played in dusk, it’s really tough. I think, especially serve, serve return, it just gets really wonky. I’m sure it kind of affected them to some degree in the last couple of games,” he said.

Rhinelander (14-13, 4-1 Great Northern) was set to travel to Marshfield Columbus on Monday in a match that was postponed last Tuesday due to rain. 

The Hodags would be assured of at least a tie for first in the GNC entering Thursday’s conference tournament by winning at least 11 of the 14 individual matches between the Marshfield Columbus and Lakeland duals.

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].