Rhinelander tennis falls at Pacelli 4-3

A stacked singles lineup was too much for the Rhinelander High School girls’ tennis team to overcome Tuesday. Pacelli swept all four singles matches, which proved to be the difference in a 4-3 win for the Cardinals in Great Northern Conference play in Stevens Point.

It’s no surprise Pacelli is strong at singles, given that it returns last year’s conference singles player of the year in Natalie Cooper, No. 3 singles champion Morgan Matowitz and conference runner-up at No. 2 singles Lauren Loesl. The Cardinals took all three of those matches in straight sets and added another straight-set win at No. 4 to take the dual from the Hodags.

“Obviously, they have a strong lineup there and then their No. 4 is a very consistent player,” Hodag coach Matt Nichols said. “I would expect their singles, especially the top three flights, to really cruise through most teams. In the grand scheme, I don’t think a 3-4 isn’t terrible. Obviously, we wanted more and we’re going to shoot for more at the conference tourney, but I think we’re at a good spot where we can push and, if we compete hard, we can start catching up.”

The loss put Rhinelander in fourth in the early conference standings, though the Hodags have played two fewer matches than conference-leading Medford and one fewer than second-place Pacelli.

The Hodags salvaged a pair of key points in the conference race by fending of a challenge at No. 1 doubles. There, Dawsyn Barkus and Brooke Sisel prevailed in a pair of tiebreakers to outlast Annabelle Arnold and Reese Abel 7-6 (3), 2-6, 13-11.

“It was a huge one for them. Our big focus the last couple of days was mental focus,” Nichols said. “They were down 8-4 (in the tiebreaker), I believe and they were able to bring it back and eventually close it out. Props to them. That’s really huge for the team score. A loss is not great when we’re looking to regain the conference crown, but a 3-4 is much better than a 2-5.”

The Hodags took the other two doubles matches in straight sets. Evelyn Sawyer and Maya Patrick were 6-4, 6-0 winners over Samantha Schoepke and Reagan Abel in the second flight. Teagan Turcotte and Willow Mutter took care of Caitlyn Yarbrough and Alyssa Ladick 6-1, 6-3 in the third flight. 

“It’s not that their doubles is weak, I just thing we were stronger in those spots, we competed hard and got some nice wins there,” Nichols said noting that Sawyer and Patrick rallied from down an early break point to win their first set and that Turcotte and Mutter used consistency to out-rally the Cardinals.

Cooper defeated Kelsey Winter 6-1, 6-0 in the top flight of singles, Loesl was a 6-1, 6-0 winner over Karmen Lopez at No. 2, Matowitz fended off Maddie Legrey 7-5, 6-1 at No. 3 and Megan Peterson competed the singles sweep for Pacelli with a 6-3, 6-2 win over Sam Aschenbrenner. 

Wausau Invite

Tuesday’s conference loss came on the heels of the Hodags going 1-4 in a Labor Day weekend invite in Wausau. 

Rhinelander scored a 4-3 win over D.C. Everest last Friday, but lost to Madison Memorial 5-2 and Marshfield 7-0. Saturday’s play featured a 4-3 loss to Chippewa Falls and a 7-0 loss to Pulaski. 

“We saw some tough teams,” Nichols said. “After we kind of reflected the mental game in some of those tight matches played a huge part in who won and who lost. I think we’re making progress in that direction.”

Doubles had much of the success for the Hodags in the invite, scoring seven of Rhinelander’s nine individual wins. Barkus and Sisel went 2-3 at No. 1 doubles with wins over Madison Memorial and Chippewa Falls and a match tiebreaker loss to D.C. Everest. 

Sawyer and Willow VanDenHeuvel each scored three wins during the invite. The two teamed up for a match tiebreaker win over Madison Memorial at No. 2 doubles. Sawyer and Patrick scored wins over Chippewa Falls and Everest at No. 2 doubles while VanDenHeuvel and Eva Heck did the same at No. 3 doubles. 

Rhinelander’s lone singles wins in the tournament came against Everest as Winter won in straight sets at No. 1 and Legrey scored a win at No. 3. 

The team used the invite to mix and match combinations. Only Barkus and Sisel played all five matches together in the same flight. Rhinelander used six different players in singles and had six different doubles combinations. 

“We mixed in some different players,” Nichols noted. “We’ve got about a six-deep singles lineup where even No. 6 can jump in, if needed and jump to a No. 4 or 3 flight. All those girls are close. It’s nice that they all push each other. They’re getting better together.”

Rhinelander (7-12, 1-1 Great Northern) hosted Medford Thursday in a GNC dual that concluded after press time for today’s edition. The Hodags host defending GNC champion Lakeland this Tuesday. 

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].