Hodag tennis downs Antigo, splits Wausau matches

The Rhinelander High School boys’ tennis team carried on in Great Northern Conference play on Thursday, defeating a short-handed Antigo squad 6-1 on the road. The Hodags then mostly dodged the weather Friday and Saturday, getting in four of their five scheduled matches in the Wausau West Invite, going 2-2.

Antigo forfeited all three doubles flights on Thursday due to low numbers. The Hodags took three out of the four matches in singles play. John Currie and Nick Lesch cruised in straight sets in the top two flights. Karter Massey rallied at No. 4 singles to win a second-set tiebreaker and avoid a decisive third set against Michael Preboski. The Hodags’ lone loss came at No. 3 singles, where Zacha King fell in straight sets.

Coach Matt Nichols said, with so few players playing, assistant coach Wil Losch guided the team on Thursday in Antigo.

“From what he told me, No. 1 and 2 played really good matches, really commanding and finishing points off,” Nichols said. “No. 3 was a battle and we just weren’t great with our shot selection, dropped that one. Then the No. 4 spot was competitive, a lot of good rallies there. Eventually we fought to stay in the match, Karter was down in the set and came back to win.”

The Hodags played three matches Friday in Wausau. They lost to Oshkosh West 6-1, defeated Marshfield 5-2 and were swept by Menomonie 7-0. 

The team was scheduled to play two matches Saturday, but got off to a late start due to overnight rains and wound up playing only one match, defeating Wausau East 6-1.

Rhinelander’s lone win in the Oshkosh West match came at No. 3 doubles where Aiden Ostermann and Michael Schiek defeated Fahad Mian and Jace Koepsell, 6-2, 6-4. The Hodags dropped a match tiebreaker at No. 2 doubles with Gavin Denis and Dawson Pontell falling to Quenten Prickett and Jacob Lemke, 6-2, 4-6, 10-4.

The Hodags swept doubles against Marshfield, with Joey Belanger/Dalton Fritz, Denis/Pontell and Ostermann/Schiek all earning straight-set victories. Currie was a 6-3, 6-4 winner over Marshfield’s Kai Rens in the top singles flight while Calvin Loomis rallied to prevail in a match tiebreaker at No. 4 singles over Aran Tripathi 2-6, 6-4, 10-7. Lesch nearly gave the Hodags a sixth point, but fell in a match tiebreaker at No. 2 singles, 5-7, 6-0, 10-4.

“We got a nice win with a sub(sectional) opponent,” Nichols said of the win over Marshfield. “We got nice wins at flights, even with some guys playing up and we had two losses and one of them was a match tiebreak. I think it was really positive, looking at how we compare to the rest of the sub.”

Rhinelander dropped all seven matches in straight sets against Menomonie, a team Nichols said will likely be the team to beat from the other half of the Hodags’ sectional in late May.

“The losses, I think exposed some weaknesses that we can continue to work on at practice,” he said. “We got to work on a couple of different things in the game. I think it was a good growing experience.”

The Hodags shuffled the lineup on Saturday in a win over Wausau East. Fritz moved back to No. 1 singles for a day and led a singles sweep. Fritz, Lesch, Massey and Loomis all won their matches in straight sets. Belanger paired with Denis for a 6-1, 6-2 win at No. 1 doubles. Pontell and Ostermann prevailed 6-0, 6-0 at No. 2 doubles. Schiek, playing with fellow junior Hart Hokens, suffered the lone loss, falling at No. 3 doubles, 7-5, 6-3.

The Hodags are home for a pair of matches this week. They will play host to Stevens Point in a non-conference match this afternoon and then take on Pacelli in GNC play on Thursday.

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].