Hodag tennis finishes third in GNC

There was no magical last-minute comeback for the Rhinelander High School girls’ tennis team this year. 

All the Hodags left their home courts with on Thursday was the realization that the rest of the Great Northern Conference is catching up, and that the team will face a long offseason as it looks to reassert its dominance over the conference. 

Rhinelander wound up third on the day at the GNC tournament and finished the conference season in third place overall.

Lakeland pulled away on the final day of the season to capture its first GNC title since 2009, a year before the Hodags joined the conference. Rhinelander had won 12 of the last 14 titles and though it gained a point on conference runner-up Wausau Newman on Thursday it was not enough to prevent the Hodags from recording their lowest finish in the final conference standings since 2010.

“Those top teams, they put in work in the offseason and it’s cool to see,” Hodag tennis coach Matt Nichols said following a long day of play at the RHS tennis courts. “A competitive conference is a fun conference. It’s nice working for that. We see where we’re at. We see where the other teams are at and we’ll definitely have conversations about it, but I think these girls are ready to put in some time in the offseason and get back on top.”

Also for the first time since joining the GNC, the Hodags had no individual conference champions. Rhinelander settled for a pair of runner-up finishes and two third-place finishes as it totaled 16 points on the day. The Hodags entered the day 10 points behind Lakeland and finished 22 behind the T-Birds in the final conference standings. Though Rhinelander outscored Wausau Newman 16-15 on the day, the Cardinals held onto second in the final conference standings by three points over Rhinelander. 

“We went into it third and knowing it was a challenge,” Nichols said. “Mathematically, that’s probably the most expected outcome. I think everyone worked hard to change that, but we had a good tournament day and had a lot of positives. It’s hard to be upset about that.”

Two Rhinelander seniors took home second-team honors in the GNC as Tori Riopel was the runner-up in the No. 1 singles flight and Shayla Coppenger was second at No. 3 singles. 

Riopel lived up to her second seed in the bracket, defeating Medford’s Marcy Raznik and Lakeland’s Sarah Barton in the preliminary rounds before falling to defending GNC singles player of the year Natalie Cooper of Pacelli 6-3, 6-2 in a championship match that finished right before dusk.

“It was nice to see her push harder than last year, finish higher up in the singles, but even from earlier this season, she pushed Natalie and you could see she was getting a little frustrated,” Nichols said. “They had some awesome points. Natalie’s a great player and it was fun to see Tori compete.”

    Rhinelander’s Shayla Coppenger hits a return during a semifinal match at No. 3 singles against Lakeland’s Elise Lamers during the GNC girls’ tennis tournament at the RHS tennis courts Thursday, Sept. 21. (Bob Mainhardt for the River News)
  

Coppenger was Rhinelander’s only top seed entering the day after going undefeated in conference dual meet play. She started with a straight-set win over Phillips’ Natalie Grzywnowicz, but labored to a 6-3, 6-7 (1), 10-6 win over Lakeland’ Elise Lamers in the semifinals before falling to Pacelli freshman Morgan Matowitz 6-4, 6-1 in the championship match.

“That was a tough match. We knew it was going to be a tough one in the finals, but just getting there was a huge win, playing Lakeland, a solid (opponent). It wasn’t the best I’ve seen Shayla play but it was cool that even on not her best day she can still push through,” Nichols said. “She had a very strong mindset and competitive drive and she was able to push through and stay mentally strong.”

Rhinelander went 4-0 in match tiebreakers on Thursday following a regular season in which the team struggled to finish off close matches.

The No. 2 doubles team of Evelyn Sawyer and Brooke Sisel won their first tiebreaker of the year as they rallied past Medford’s Indya Mann and Grace Holmes 2-6, 6-2, 11-9 for third place and honorable mention in the conference. 

Rhinelander’s No. 3 doubles team of Teagan Turcotte and Willow VanDenHeuvel began the day with an upset win over Wausau Newman in a match tiebreaker 7-5, 2-6, 10-4 and then knocked off Pacelli’s Hannah Trzinski and Samantha Schoepke 6-3, 6-7 (1), 10-5 in the third-place match.

“Getting third place at Nos. 2 and 3 (doubles), we have a competitive conference, especially at that No. 3 position, (we had) two sophomores that kind of grew throughout the season,” Nichols said. “It’s just fun to see them all grow. Evelyn and Brooke jumped from No. 3 last year to No. 2 this year and finished third again. It’s exciting.”

Kayla Tessmann and Karmen Lopez won their first match, but dropped their last two to finish fourth at No. 1 doubles. Dawsyn Barkus and Maya Patrick did not place at Nos. 2 and 4 singles, respectively, after dropping their opening matches. 

Rhinelander will travel to Wisconsin Rapids this afternoon for a non-conference dual meet against the Raiders. It will serve as the Hodags’ final dress rehearsal prior to hosting a WIAA Division 1 subsectional next Monday.

“They have a solid team, so it will be really nice competition, keeping us at the peak of our game as we go into the playoff season,” Nichols said.

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].