Hodags Fritz, Belanger win match at state tennis

    Belanger & Fritz
  

Seniors Dalton Fritz and Joey Belanger ended their high school careers on a proud note Friday morning after bowing out of the WIAA Division 1 state boys’ tennis doubles tournament in Madison with a second-round loss to Neenah’s Andrew Werner and Brady Hildreth.

To get there, the Hodag tandem had to win a pair of tiebreakers and survive a marathon match against Wauwatosa West’s Connor Reynolds and Travis Wagy during Thursday’s opening round. 

It marked the second straight year that Belanger has won a match at the state tournament. He and teammate Layne Roeser were eliminated in the second round at state last spring. Meanwhile, Fritz ended his career able to say he won a match in Madison in his first state tournament appearance. 

“Not many people get to go down to state and say they won a match there. It’s cool knowing you were one of the very few teams to do that,” Belanger told the River News after Friday’s loss.

Fritz added, “It felt great to end our season at state, even though it’s not the outcome we wanted. Just knowing that it’s our last season, being able to end there was great.”

The two finished the season 21-6 as a doubles team, and coach Matt Nichols said they saved some of their best tennis for their final matches at Nielsen Tennis Stadium.

“The overall thing I saw was just their mental game,” he said. “We talked about how every team down there was going to be competitive and most teams could beat each other. It really comes down to a shooting match. I think that really played into the first game. It was cool to see them play strong the whole time. Even, this morning, it was just a really strong game, great shots. I think it was the best volleying I’ve seen from Dalton. Great serves across the board.”

The Hodag pair had its mettle tested in the opener against Reynolds and Wagy, who led much of the match. Belanger and Fritz fought to force a set tiebreaker in the opening set, which they took 8-6 then, after dropping the second set 6-3, rallied for a 10-7 win in the supertiebreaker to decide the match.

“They were down just about the entire game except the last couple of points in each tiebreak, and those were the ones that matters,” Nichols said. “They were very composed and collected out on the court. They’ve been in tough matches before. We had a nice schedule that gave them some match tiebreaks in the past. We’ve done a lot of tiebreak work. They were very composed through the whole thing.”

Belanger said the key to Thursday’s match was keeping an even keel.

“They were pretty rowdy on their side, but we stayed calm and collected the whole way through the match,” he said. “We played our game. We didn’t go down to their level and we came out winners, and that’s all that mattered.”

Belanger and Fritz were the underdogs against the 13th-seeded pair from Neenah, but proceeded to have one of the longest matches of the first 12 that went out at the beginning of Friday morning’s play. Ultimately, Werner and Hildreth prevailed though a number of long deuce-ad games to take the match, 6-2, 6-3.

“I’d say we played better than yesterday for sure. They were just a better team today,” Fritz said.

“There were a couple of points here and there, if we played them again could we beat them? I think we could,” Nichols added. “I think they were evenly matched. We just didn’t get it today. It wasn’t anyone’s fault, per se, it was just good tennis and they played better.”

Both players returned home Friday evening to take part in Rhinelander High School graduation, officially putting a cap on their high school careers. Belanger finished with an 81-21 career record, winning three straight conference titles at No. 1 doubles after earning the championship at No. 2 singles as a freshman. In addition to his two state tournament appearances, Belanger was a four-year sectional qualifier for the Hodags. 

“It’s been fun. I’m definitely going to miss it,” Belanger said. “I’ve done a lot of things for Rhinelander. It’s my hometown. It will be neat to look back in a couple of years, 10 years and say, ‘I did that.’ It’s a just a good town to live in.”

Fritz, who did not break into the varsity lineup until his sophomore year, finished with a career record of 57-26. In addition to the No. 1 doubles title this year, he was the GNC champ at No. 1 singles last year and at No. 4 singles in 2022 — qualifying for sectionals all three seasons.

“It’s been a great four years, moving from singles to doubles, getting to experience the whole play of tennis and going through a bunch of seniors, getting to know them and watch them succeed and graduate,” Fritz said.

Nichols said the two, part of a larger class of six seniors to graduate from the program this year, left an indelible mark.

“You look at two seniors that elevate every practice by having the skills that the have, being there and pushing their teammates,” he said. “They’ve just been kind of a staple in that varsity roster … It’s awesome to see all the growth and development and tough to see it all leave at once. It’s like a switch goes off and they’re gone.”

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].