Hodag netters break out brooms to end week

Whatever lessons the Rhinelander High School girls’ tennis team learned early last week when it faced tough opponents in the Green Bay area it applied late in the week to dominant effect against more local competition.

The Hodags got back to .500 with a quartet of 7-0 sweeps late last week. Rhinelander knocked off Antigo on the road Thursday and then came home Friday to dispatch Merrill, Ashland and Ironwood. Mich. in the Hodag Quadrangular.

“It was great to see the team bounce back,” said coach Matt Nichols, whose Hodags improved to 5-5 following the first week of the regular season. “We kind of see this pattern of seeing really tough competition, we reflect on what we can improve, work on it at practice, work on it in games. It was nice to see the girls play hard against these last couple of teams.”

The Hodags made short work of Antigo Thursday, especially in the lower flights, as they rolled to a victory in their conference opener. 

The Nos. 1 and 2 singles flights were moderately competitive. Kelsey Winter took a 6-3, 6-3 win over Hailey Burhop and Karmen Lopez was a 6-2, 6-4 winner over Elyse Packard. Otherwise, Rhinelander dropped just three games combined over the other five flights.

Maddie Legrey and Sam Aschenbrenner completed the singles sweep for Rhinelander. Dawsyn Barkus and Brooke Sisel cruised in the top doubles flight. Evelyn Sawyer and Maya Patrick rolled at No. 2. Teagan Turcotte and Willow VanDenHeuvel scored a 6-0, 6-0 win at No. 3.

“It was a great way to start conference,” Nichols said. “You can’t do better than a 7-0. We definitely had some things that we want to work on, but it’s great to just walk away with that as we pursue this goal of starting a conference streak.”

The Hodags gave most of their starters sporadic rest during Friday’s home invite. Only Turcotte and VanDenHeuvel played all three matches — scoring a straight-set win over Merrill at No. 3 doubles, and straight set wins at No. 2 doubles over Ironwood and Ashland. 

Everybody else in the starting lineup played only two matches, which provided a chance for some new faces to emerge. Becca Brost dropped just one game as she earned wins at No. 4 singles over Merrill and No. 3 singles against Ashland. Aschenbrenner scored 6-0, 6-0 wins at No. 3 singles over Ironwood and No. 2 singles against Ashland. Willow Mutter earned a pair of wins at No. 3 doubles, one with Eva Heck and another with JaLyn LaChapelle. Heck and LaChapelle also took turns at No. 4 singles, each scoring 6-0, 6-0 wins.

“I’m just very impressed with the depth. We sat our No. 2 and 3 singles (against Ashland), went with a 1, 4, 5, 6, essentially and walked off with some very decisive wins,” Nichols said. “I think the doubles, especially the No. 1 flight but I’ve seen it trickle into the Nos. 2 and 3 as well, we’re just getting more active at the net. Just the overall confidence, they’re growing together but they see — and I want them to continue to see — how skilled they are. Even in those tight matches, they have what it takes to pull through.”

Winter scored straight-set wins at No. 1 singles over Merrill and Ashland. Lopez bumped up to No. 1 while Winter rested against Ironwood and scored a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Jacinta Lauzon.

“She jumped up to No. 1 and she competed really hard. It was a good game, a nice player on the other side but she just played a really consistent game and finished when she needed to. Her serves were on point,” Nichols said.

Patrick and Sawyer scored the win at No. 1 doubles over Ironwood while Barkus and Sisel had wins in the top doubles flight over Merrill and Ashland. Barkus and Sisel won 6-0, 6-0 in the finale over Ashland’s Mikayla Bigo and Ali Vittone, but Nichols said the final score was not indicative of how hard the Hodag pair was pushed by the Oredockers.

“(Ashland) looked like a really good team watching them play Merrill,” he said. “It was close. We saw them (be) really good on defense but we were trying to work the offense. We worked some serve-and-volley, a lot of activity at the net. That was nice to see.”

Nichols said the team enjoyed a couple of days of rest over the weekend following a long opening week of tennis. The Hodags are in store for another long week with a pair of invites in Wausau. The first of those invites started yesterday and wraps up today. The second will take place Friday and Saturday. 

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].