A decade of dominance

Some years have been cliffhangers others coronations but there has been one constant over the last 11 years — the Rhinelander High School boys’ tennis team is the gold standard within the Great Northern Conference. 

Rhinelander continued its reign over the GNC on Friday, winning five of the seven flights and taking third in the other two as it claimed yet another conference title at the RHS tennis courts.

That made 10 straight titles for the Hodags, and 12 in the 13 seasons Rhinelander has been a part of the GNC. The Hodags have won every title since 2014, with only the COVID-19 pandemic that canceled the 2020 season serving to interrupt the dominance.

“Double digits. Props to the guys. They earned it, they deserve it,” Hodag tennis coach Matt Nichols said.”

“We’ve won conference every year. It’s been kind of nice to be a part of that and be a part of history as well,” added senior Joey Belanger, who claimed a third straight conference title at No. 1 doubles, playing with senior teammate Dalton Fritz.

This year’s championship was somewhere in between cliffhanger and coronation. Rhinelander entered the day with a six-point lead over Lakeland and drew byes into the semifinals at every flight. Though Lakeland outplayed Rhinelander in the semifinals — sending six flights through to the finals to the Hodags’ five — the Hodags’ grip on the title never seemed to loosen. Rhinelander moved to the precipice of a championship when Dawson Pontell and Michael Schiek downed Lakeland’s Carson Tegland and Angus Callender for the title at No. 2 doubles and mathematically clinched the title when Belanger and Fritz rolled to the championship at No. 1 doubles.

Rhinelander outscored Lakeland 36-29 on the day to win the conference title by 13 points overall.

    Rhinelander’s Dalton Fritz hits a return while teammate Joey Belanger looks on during the GNC boys’ tennis tournament at the RHS tennis courts Friday, May 17. Belanger and Fritz earned GNC doubles player of the year honors thanks to their championship at No. 1 doubles. (Bob Mainhardt for the River News)
  

Belanger and Fritz reprised their player of the year roles from last year. Belanger had won the last two GNC  No. 1 doubles’ titles with Layne Roeser while Fritz was the GNC No. 1 singles’ champ last year before moving over to play with Belanger following Roeser’s graduation. 

Rhinelander swept the top honors in the GNC for a second straight year as John Currie claimed the No. 1 singles flight and singles player of the year. Nichols was voted the conference’s coach of the year once again. 

Rhinelander also picked up championships at No. 4 singles with senior Zacha King and No. 3 doubles with the junior tandem of Aiden Ostermann and Karter Massey.

“Everyone, I think they finished as seeded or higher,” Nichols said. “They all played great. There was a lot of good tennis and I think that’s some good momentum going into the subsectional.”

Belanger and Fritz were the second seed in the No. 1 doubles draw behind Bodde Mikkonen and Austin Vyskocil of Ashland. That pair won in three sets over Fritz and Pontell in the season opener April 9, with Belanger unavailable that day, getting to the match late after a college visit. 

Belanger and Fritz downed Pacelli’s Marcus Lansing and Hunter Wrezinski 6-4, 6-0 Friday to set up a rematch with Mikkonen and Vyskocil and then boat-raced the Ashland pair 6-1, 6-2 in the championship match.

“We felt confident going into the match. We had a tough loss at the beginning of the season, but we were confident we would pull through,” Fritz said.

“Joey is a very strong player. He brings a lot to that pairing,” Nichols added. “It was really exciting to see them play. They’ve grown a lot and that was a nice win to cap off an awesome conference season for them.”

    Rhinelander’s John Currie plays a point during the GNC boys’ tennis tournament at the RHS tennis courts Friday, May 17. Currie beat Lakeland’s Dominic Gironella 7-6 (5), 6-2 to win the conference title at No. 1 singles and GNC singles player of the year honors. (Bob Mainhardt for the River News)
  

Fritz’s move to No. 1 doubles opened the door for Currie, last year’s No. 2 singles champ, to move to the top spot in the lineup. After going undefeated during the GNC season, Currie had the top seed in the No. 1 singles draw Friday. He cruised past Antigo’s Nolan Bunnell 6-2, 6-3 in the semifinals before taking on Lakeland’s Dominic Gironella in the finals. 

Currie seemed in control early on in the championship match, racing out to an early 5-2 lead in the opening set. Gironella fought to get back on serve 5-4 and then both players held serve the rest of the set to force a tiebreaker. Currie prevailed in the tiebreaker 7-5 and then rolled in the second set, 6-2.

“I’ve been looking forward to it all year and my entire high school tennis career. It’s great to finally reach that goal,” Currie said. “He battled back and that was really impressive. All the props to him. I was able to clutch up in the tiebreak, which was nice. Then, yeah, I just took that momentum and went into the second set with renewed vigor.”

Currie said the biggest adjustment that allowed him to regain control of the championship match was simply pressing the issue and being the aggressor against Gironella.

“He started to slow down the game, which is the opposite of what I do. Instead of slowing down with him, I decided to pick up the pace and be more offensive,” he said. 

“It was fun watching John adjust,” Nichols added. “He changed his game and he was able to change it up in a way that they just couldn’t respond and he finished strong. That was fun to watch. He has big shots. If he brings to pace, Gironella, he’s so fast that if we bring the pace he can’t hunt them down or he just starting hitting a little out. John bringing a little pace, coming up on some of those short balls or high balls, that was huge.”

The Hodags had an altered doubles lineup Friday. With the meet moved back a day due to rain, senior Gavin Denis was unable to play due to a prior commitment. Schiek moved up to No. 2 doubles to play with Pontell while Karter Massey filled Schiek’s spot at No. 3 with Ostermann. 

The altered pairings hardly skipped a beat. Pontell and Schiek beat Ashland’s Ryan O’Bey and Eiden Ellet-Cardinal 6-1, 6-0 in the semifinals and then Tegland and Callender 6-1, 6-3 in the finals. Ostermann and Massey took down Medford’s Chrisitian Preuss and Blaine Searles 6-4, 6-0 in the semis and Lakeland’s Tyler Wallace and Sawyer Brown 6-3, 6-2 in the finals.

“I figured both were going to be strong,” Nichols said. “Our doubles have just been very strong this year. We have Dawson at No. 2 and he just kind of locks down the fort. Michael stepped up and played a great game. I’d say the same with Aiden at No. 3 and Karter coming in. It just goes to the depth. They’re very strong players. They’ve improved a lot over the season and to sweep the doubles with Gavin, unfortunately, gone it was fun to see.”

King rolled as the top seed at No. 4 singles. He cruised past Antigo’s Michael Preboski 6-1, 6-1 in the semifinals and Lakeland’s August Callender 6-3, 6-0 in the championship.

“It’s a lot of improvement across the board an he’s a big one who’s made big jumps, bringing top, slice, his mental game,” Nichols said. “He’s just grown so much as a player and he’s brought a lot of talent to the singles lineup.”

The Hodags received all-conference honors in all seven flights. After semifinal losses, Nick Lesch and Payton McCue rebounded to win their third-place matches at Nos. 2 and 3 singles, respectively, to earn honorable mention. Lesch defeated Michael Hagerty of Antigo 6-4, 7-5 in his third-place match while McCue was a 6-3, 6-0 winner over Ashland’s Adrian Erickson.

“They were able to get some accolades for it and a little momentum and some confidence going into subs,” Nichols said. “When you walk away as a conference champ or a even a third-place, honorable mention, that comes into play in some of those tight matches. You can say, ‘I’m a strong player. I can do this.’” 

The Hodags began WIAA tournament play Monday as they hosted a WIAA Division 1 subsectional. The top four finishers at the No. 1 singles and doubles flights, and the top two finishers in every other flight, moved on to Wednesday’s sectional round in Eau Claire. 

Both of Rhinelander’s top flights said they felt confident about their games entering the tournament as they looked to get to the sectional round or beyond.

“It was definitely a good practice for subs, good preparation I should say. There’s going to be some tough competition there and we’ll see how it goes,” Currie said. 

“We’ve beat everyone in the sub. Wednesday’s going to be a tough match, as always,” Belanger said. “I don’t know, I think we could go far. We’ve just got to play good and keep each other’s spirits up.”

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].