Hodag tennis opens season with 6-1 win

The newest member of the Great Northern Conference learned Tuesday what the other five teams already know. The road to a conference title in boys’ tennis runs through Rhinelander.

The Hodags flexed their depth on Tuesday as they began their quest for a 10th straight GNC crown. Rhinelander swept singles and took a pair of doubles matches as they greeted conference newcomer Ashland with a 6-1 result in the Hodag Dome.

Rhinelander (1-0, 1-0 Great Northern) did it with a shuffled lineup. Returning No. 1 doubles player Joey Belanger missed the match due to a college visit and the Hodags were down a handful of players who were in the mix for starting spots going into the season. Even so, the Hodags took the majority of the matches convincingly in straight sets.

“That was a question going into it. We’re playing a lineup we won’t expect to see necessarily later on in the year. It was exciting to see the lower flights, especially, they commanded those wins,” Hodag coach Matt Nichols said. “I didn’t know exactly what to expect from (Ashland) but I thought they had a nice team, especially their No. 1 doubles and singles. But it was nice. We had a lot of wins across the board to get some momentum for the team as a whole.”

Rhinelander’s lone loss came at No. 1 doubles to a pair that made the second round of the WIAA Division 2 state doubles tournament a season ago — Bodee Mikkonen and Austin Vyskocil. Senior Dalton Fritz, moving over to No. 1 doubles after holding down the top singles spot last year, was paired with fellow senior Dawson Pontell due to Belanger’s absence. Yet the new pairing pushed Ashland to a third set before falling 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-3.

“It was a really exciting match. There were a lot of good points,” Nichols said. “There were good plays both ways. It was exciting to see both of them, individually, but it was also pretty cool to see them — not having played really any doubles together — jump in and there was really good communication, great movement. It’s exciting to see all the doubles players are kind of on the same page. They can all fluidly move.”

With Ashland’s move into the GNC this year, the conference went to a single round-robin for dual meets. That means if Belanger is going to get a crack at Ashland’s top pair, it will have to wait until next month’s conference tournament.

“Once Joey’s there, I think we’ll be looking at comparable (results for seeding),” Nichols said. “He’ll make it a stronger team and I think you’ll see that as well. I can see them at the conference tournament making the finals. I hope we can meet them there and, with Joey there, get the win.” 

The returning pieces of Rhinelander’s lineup from last year fared well. Senior John Currie, who moved to the top flight in singles, controlled his match against Ashland’s Harry Diesburg, cruising to a 6-2, 6-2 win.

“The Ashland player had very nice strokes, a very good game, and John walked away pretty handedly,” Nichols said. “Mentally he was strong as well, talking to him. His strokes checked out with a pretty nice win.”

Gavin Denis, moving up from No. 3 singles to No. 2 also cruised. After long deuce/ad games to open each set Denis took command and defeated Ben Snyder, 6-1, 6-1.

“He’s much improved from last year,” Nichols said of Denis. “His serve’s gotten a little more pace. The rallies, he’s really good at hitting that back baseline. Just great singles play and now he’s starting to mix up his shots. As he starts incorporating some of those newer shots and different parts of his game, he’ll only grow.”

Rhinelander had four players, including two freshmen, make their varsity debuts on Tuesday — and all of them came away winners. 

    Rhinelander’s Calvin Loomis reached for a the ball during a GNC boys’ tennis match against Ashland in the Hodag Dome Tuesday, April 9. Loomis, a freshman, won his varsity debut in straight sets at No. 3 singles. (Bob Mainhardt for the River News)
  

Freshman Calvin Loomis jumped into the lineup at No. 3 singles where he staved off hard-hitting sophomore Adrian Erickson. Down 3-4 in the first set, Loomis rattled off the final three games and then cruised in the second set, 6-1.

“Calvin, I think, we just pretty nervous as a freshman playing alone, playing not No. 4 doubles but No. 3 singles,” Nichols said. “He played a competitive player. It was a great match for him, a really good learning experience and something he can definitely build off of.”

Junior Michael Schiek broke into the lineup at No. 2 doubles with returning senior Nick Lesch. The two rolled to a 6-1, 6-1 win over Danny Kelley and Toryn McFarlane. Freshman Asher Rivord and junior Van Tulowitzky debuted at No. 3 doubles, rolling to a 6-1, 6-0 win over Benj McPherson and Aiden Ellett-Cordinal 6-1, 6-0.

“That really speaks to the depth,” Nichols said. “We were questioning, ‘Where do we sit? Where is our 15th or 16th guy?’ But we had a lot of debuts, two freshmen jumping into their first matches as a varsity starter. Everyone, as a team, performed well.”

Junior Karter Massey, who made a couple of starts on varsity last year, played No. 4 singles for the Hodags Thursday and defeated Kyelin Henson, 6-1, 6-0.

“That first game of the set he wasn’t totally in but once he hit a rhythm, I saw a lot of consistency come back,” Nichols said. “His serves are really coming on and it was good to see his game come all together and close it out in commanding fashion.”

The Hodags get set to venture outside the GNC for the first time today and tomorrow at the Wausau West Invite. Nichols said the Hodags are slated to face Wisconsin Valley Conference teams — and subsectional foes — Wausau East, Wausau West and D.C. Everest.

“It will be interesting to see some of the Valley schools … It will be a good test for us to see how we sit in the region,” he said. “Also, if we want to shift anything around (in the lineup), it will be a good time to do that.”

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].