With finale rained out, Hodag tennis looks ahead to subsectionals

The Rhinelander High School girls’ tennis team was supposed to have its last regular season match of the season on Tuesday. It turned out that Mother Nature had different ideas, but the Hodags didn’t seem to mind.

A rainy forecast washed away a scheduled non-conference match at Wisconsin Rapids for the Hodags. Those rains did not make their way north to Rhinelander, where the Hodags practiced instead as they prepare to host a WIAA Division 1 subsectional on Monday. 

“A week with no matches is kind of tough but, at the same time, we got a lot of game play in today,” coach Matt Nichols said Tuesday. “It was fun to watch us compete and this is probably the most fun I’ve seen them have all season.”

The Hodags will face a tough road on Monday. They split with their subsectional opponents, going 5-4 in dual matches this season against a field that includes most of the Wisconsin Valley Conference, minus Stevens Point and Wisconsin Rapids. Rhinelander, Medford and GNC champion Lakeland make up the remainder of the field. 

“I see us, as an entire team, just kind in the middle of the pack,” Nichols said. “I think we’ve improved a lot, which is really cool to see. We’ve seen that with some of the flights, especially No. 3 doubles kind of jumps out as a spot that we’ve really become more competitive in. We’ll get some higher seeds and some lower here and there.”

Middle of the pack is OK but it will not be good enough for the Hodags to advance individual flights to next Wednesday’s sectional round in Eau Claire. To move on, the Hodags will have to win their first match at the No. 1 singles and doubles flights and two matches at every other position. 

Senior Tori Riopel (20-10) seems the best situated to advance, after going 8-2 against teams in the subsectional during the regular season. Both losses came to Wausau West, which has Riopel well-positioned to earn the No. 2 seed in the bracket and a potential matchup with the No. 7 seed needing only one win to advance.

“When you think about the postseason, she’s in a great spot,” Nichols said. “She’s looking for the No. 2 seed and I think, unless something crazy happens, it will be largely uncontested. She’s beaten everyone head-to-head. It sets her up really nicely to get through, but then also in that crossover, she would get to see the No. 3 (from the other subsectional). We’re really hoping for a good postseason run for her.”

At No. 1 doubles, the Hodag tandem of Kayla Tessmann and Karmen Lopez was 3-7 against the sectional, but wins over D.C. Everest, Merrill and Wausau East, have them positioned to possibly earn the No. 5 seed where a potential rematch with Medford’s Masaeda Krug and Audrey Ruesch  could await. Tessmann and Lopez pushed Krug and Ruesch to a set tiebreaker during their regular season meeting and were competitive in a 6-4, 6-3 loss to the Raider tandem in the third-place match at last week’s conference tournament.

“I’m kind of predicting we’ll get the No. 5, Medford the No. 4 and we’ve lost twice against them, but we’ve been close each time and I think the girls are itching for a win here,” Nichols said.

Otherwise, a number of the Hodag entries should be in the middle of the pack. Shayla Coppenger was 7-3 against the field at No. 3 singles and could be in position for a third seed. Dawsyn Barkus was 6-4 at No. 2 singles, Evelyn Sawyer and Brooke Sisel were 4-5 at No. 2 doubles. Rhinelander went 3-6 with multiple different players at No. 4 singles and was 3-8 at No. 3 doubles.

“Some of them are really close and we’ll be right in the middle — especially thinking of No. 2 doubles … we’ll be right in the middle of the pack, but there’s no team that jumps out and screams, ‘You can’t compete with me.’ Any of those teams, even the No. 1 seeds, we’ve been in a really close match with,” Nichols said. “We’re in a spot where we’re not seeded to win or get the most points as a team, but we’re poised to, if we compete well on the day, we could make some big moves.”

That’s where having an extra day to practice this week could serve to the Hodags’ benefit. During a season that has been chock-full of conference matches and multi-day invitationals, several consecutive days of practice has been a rare occurrence. 

“I feel like we have some times, four practices in a row, to work on some different things and really tune our skills and strategy before subs,” Nichols said. “I think really just fine-tuning, nothing major and just getting into the competitive spirit, getting ready to face some tough competition and respond in a positive way.”

The Hodags will also have home court advantage as the RHS tennis courts and the Hodag Dome will be utilized for Monday’s matches. Aside from playing on their home courts, Nichols said not having to hit the road will be a benefit, as matches get underway at 9 a.m. Monday.

“We get to sleep in our own beds. Not only that but we don’t have an hour and a half, two hour ride in a bus prior,” he said. “We get to sleep in, relatively, to other teams and we can show up we know the courts, know the venue and we’re comfortable playing there. It’s just really nice, they can roll in and play like any other day.” 

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at jeremy@rivernewsonline.com.