RHS tennis drops tight match to SPASH

The Rhinelander High School boys’ tennis team’s battle with perennial Wisconsin Valley Conference contender Stevens Point came right down to the wire Tuesday but the Hodags fell short following a pair of three set matches.

The Hodags swept doubles but SPASH took all the singles matches as the Panthers prevailed 4-3 in a non-conference match at the RHS tennis courts.

Rhinelander won the first set in five of the seven flights, but SPASH was able to rally and flip the results at Nos. 1 and 4 singles, which ultimately proved to decide the match.

“They are very consistently strong program,” Hodag coach Matt Nichols said. “We knew they were going to be right at the top of the sub. There were a lot of tight matches. Opportunities were there, we just weren’t able to close out.”

Tied 3-3, attention shifted to the No. 1 singles match between Rhinelander’s John Currie and Stevens Point’s Mitchell Thielman. After taking the first set, 6-1, Currie had a chance to put Thielman away in the second, but ultimately fell in a tiebreaker, 7-4. Trailing 4-5 in the third set, Currie broke Thielman’s serve to tie it, but Thielman broke back in the 11th game and then served out for a 7-5 victory that decided the dual.

“It was a close match. I think there were just some shot placements at the end there where we lost some points and, ultimately fell,” Nichols said.

Karter Massey also suffered a three-set defeat for the Hodags. After taking the opener at No. 4 singles 6-4 against Reid Neuman, he dropped the final two sets, 6-3, 6-4. Nick Lesch fell to Tully Smith 6-1, 6-1 at No. 2 and Zacha King lost to Will Matthews 6-4, 6-4 at No. 3.

“Our singles, through the season, haven’t necessarily been as competitive as our doubles with teams across the board, but I thought everyone was close, everyone had good rallies,” Nichols said. “It was very competitive. It was fun to see them compete.”

    Rhinelander’s Aiden Ostermann plays a point at the net during a non-conference boys’ tennis dual against Stevens Point at the RHS tennis courts Tuesday, April 30. Ostermann was part of a straight-set win for the Hodags at No. 3 doubles. The Hodags swept doubles but lost the dual, 4-3. (Bob Mainhardt for the River News)
  

Rhinelander took all three doubles matches in straight sets on Tuesday. Joey Belanger and Dalton Fritz were 6-1, 6-2 winners over Jacob Lutger and Carson Slowinski at No. 1. Gavin Denis and Dawson Pontell downed Will Beavers and Wyatt Thielman 6-3, 6-2 at No. 2 and Aiden Ostermann and Michael Schiek defeated Sebastian Nelson and Drew Rust 6-2, 6-3 at No. 3.

“I think, across the board, good doubles play,” Nichols said. “We had strong serves, good movement with our partners across the court and then placement with our shots. SPASH was competitive in doubles and it was fun to watch us kind of command the points and close out some matches with a very competitive subsectional opponent.”

As Nichols mentioned, SPASH is one of the teams that will come to Rhinelander May 20 for WIAA subsectional play. Given that all three Panther doubles squads are currently undefeated in Valley play — and that most of the subsectional plays in the Valley — Nichols said Tuesday’s wins will likely serve as big resume builders for his doubles teams as the postseason nears.

“I would kind of suspect SPASH to have some of the top doubles teams in the Valley. If that proves to be true, the sweep of doubles today will hopefully earn us the No. 1 seed at the seeding meeting,” he said.

Rhinelander (11-6, 3-0 Great Northern) was scheduled to take on Pacelli Thursday in a match that concluded after press time for today’s edition. Though the forecast was threatening, Nichols suspected the matches would likely move into the Hodag Dome and move along quickly, with the Cardinals only expected to field doubles teams for the conference dual due to low numbers.

The Hodags were scheduled to head to Wisconsin Rapids for a non-conference dual today, but Nichols said the varsity portion of the match was canceled due to low numbers for Rapids.

Meanwhile, the Hodags have rescheduled their rained out non-conference dual against Wausau West, originally scheduled for last Tuesday. The teams will play this coming Monday in Wausau.

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].