Winter voted Hodag tennis MVP

Senior Kelsey Winter held down the No. 1 singles spot all season for the Rhinelander High School girls’ tennis team and was voted the squad’s most valuable player. That was one of several awards handed out Monday as the team concluded its season with a banquet in the RHS commons.

Winter went 13-18 at the flight this year after missing virtually all of the 2023 season due to a knee injury. She finished fourth at the Great Northern Conference tournament before getting bounced from the WIAA playoffs in the subsectional round.

“She’s very driven and very competitive. She was always looking for a winning strategy. When you look at the four years she’s been on the team, it’s going to be sad to lose the talent she brought,” Hodag tennis coach Matt Nichols said during the banquet. “She played No. 1 singles for us, a very competitive spot. Whether she won or lost, I think I was always proud that she gave her best. Even if she was in a losing match — because you see some crazy good people — she was out there thinking about what she could do to change it, what she could do to get points or even what she could do to get the ball back. I commend her for that.”

Winter’s award was one of eight the team presented during the banquet, seven of which were voted on by the players. The only one that wasn’t was the Three-Setter Netter award, given to the player or players who won the most match tiebreakers over the course of the season. Fittingly enough, that award went to one of Rhinelander’s two sectional qualifiers, Maya Patrick, who teamed with fellow senior Evelyn Sawyer to win a match tiebreaker against Medford to advance to sectionals at No. 2 doubles. 

Patrick was involved in six match tiebreakers this year, winning four of them. That included a pair of tiebreaker wins in the Wausau West Invite Sept. 13-14 when the Hodags shuffled the lineup and put Karmen Lopez with Patrick in the second flight. That ultimately gave Patrick a leg up on Sawyer, who was 3-2 in match tiebreakers on the year. 

“This award could also be tied into mental strength because a third set is not easy,” Nichols said. “To go to six of them and win four of them — and props to Evie as well with the win to go to sectionals — it just goes to show the mental strength these two ladies have developed throughout the season.”

Sawyer didn’t leave empty-handed, as she was voted as the winner of the Team Spirit Award. Junior Maddie Legrey was named the varsity team’s most improved player and junior Eva Heck won the Hodag Citizen Award. 

Legrey went 14-13 on the year, eventually settling in at the No. 3 singles spot. Assistant coach Wil Losch credited a 1-6, 6-2, 10-2 win over Wausau East’s Salome Ujarmeli on Sept. 13 as a turning point in Legrey’s season, as she won six of her final nine matches after that comeback.

“Something clicked … I think it that moment you started to believe,” Losch said. “I think we saw that in a lot of the results. She puts in the time. She’s one of the players who will stick around to hit after practice. We’ve talked about the time she wants to put in, in the offseason and we’re excited about the contribution you will make next year.”

In presenting the Team Spirit Award, Losch said Sawyer, “not only roots on her teammates, but she’s just a person who, generally, roots on people to do well. She wants people to do well at whatever they’re doing.”

Heck won the Hodag Citizen Award, which honors the player who had the greatest positive impact on and off the court. Nichols noted that, beyond showing leadership and inclusiveness on the team, Heck is involved in many activities — including student council, National Honor Society, Fellowship of Christian Athletes, Key Club and tutoring. 

The three other team awards went to players who primarily played junior varsity this fall. Freshman Jordan Manske won the team’s Hustle Award and was named co-rookie of the year with fellow freshman Taylor McKinney. Mya Gillen and Annie Vander Galien shared the JV most improved award. 

Additionally, eight players earned All-Academic awards from the Wisconsin High School Tennis Coaches Association — Heck, Legrey, Sawyer, Winter, senior Brooke Sisel, junior Willow VanDenHeuvel, junior Willow Mutter and sophomore JaLyn LaChapelle. Sophomores, juniors and seniors are eligible for the award if they receive a varsity letter and have a cumulative grade point average of 3.5 or higher.

The Hodags went 13-17 on the season, finished fifth in the Great Northern Conference and sixth in their WIAA Division 1 subsectional. While the Hodags failed to equal results from previous seasons, Nichols categorized the 2024 season as one of growth for his squad.

“All of the varsity improved throughout the year, which is the end goal here,” he said. “Tennis is a lifelong sport. That’s the cool part of it. Even if you didn’t get the results this year, you can continue playing, even when you’re out of high school.”

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].