Hodag tennis falls to Newman 5-2

Rhinelander’s chances to finish in the top half of the Great Northern Conference took another hit on Tuesday. Wausau Newman swept doubles and the teams split singles play as the Hodags lost to the Cardinals 5-2 in Wausau.

A dinged up Hodag squad featured a shuffled lineup on Tuesday. Karmen Lopez moved from No. 2 singles to No. 2 doubles while Brooke Sisel moved to No. 2 singles and Evelyn Sawyer bumped up to No. 1 doubles. Hodag coach Matt Nichols said the move was out of necessity with Lopez playing through a hand injury.

“It wasn’t necessarily a strategic move or something we look more as a permanent move, but Karmen injured her left hand,” he explained. “She can still play, but her backhand is definitely hindered. We figured moving her to doubles might be an effective way to use her, but also protect her backhand.”

Rhinelander’s wins came at Nos. 1 and 3 singles with Kelsey Winter and Maddie Legrey.

Winter fended off Wausau Newman’s Reagan Herdrich 6-4, 6-4 in the top flight, taking the final three games of the second set to clinch the match. Nichols called it a quality win for Winter, who moved to 3-2 at the top flight in the GNC while Herdrich fell to 3-3.

“She’s one of the top girls in conference, no doubt,” he said. “I think Kelsey’s definitely coming on late in the season. Last year (being) out kind of hurt her. She did hit a lot over the summer, but hitting versus competition is different and that mental edge is really coming along. She’s a competitor.” 

Meanwhile, Legrey took control late in the first set at No. 3 singles and pulled away to a 6-4, 6-1 win over Olivia Fox. Nichols credited a match tiebreak victory for Legrey over Wausau East’s Salome Ujarmeli last Friday — a player she lost to previously this season — as a key moment for the senior’s confidence. 

“Maddie’s always been a consistent player, but I would argue again it’s that mental game. When she beat Wausau East over the weekend … I think that confidence has carried over beyond that one match. That momentum and mentality of ‘Hey, I’m a good player. I can hang with anyone, even if it’s close.’”

Sisel fell to Wausau East’s Addie Schmitt 6-4, 6-1 at No. 2 singles while Sam Aschenbrenner fell to Emma Larrain 6-1, 6-3 in the fourth flight. 

On the doubles’ side, Nichols said his altered pairings fared well, but simply ran into stronger opponents. Barkus and Sawyer lost 6-2, 6-1 to Molly Merrill and Evelyn Herdrich at No. 1 doubles. 

“They were playing a very skilled team. We has some good points and good rallies, but our ground strokes, they hindered our play. We could finish at the net, but we didn’t get the point long enough most of the time,” Nichols said.

Lopez and Maya Patrick played the longest match of the day, falling to Newman’s Naomi Stenstrom and Fiona McCarthy in a No. 2 doubles match that had to move from Newman Catholic to Oak Island Park due to darkness to finish under the lights.

 “That one was really close. I think it could have went either way,” Nichols said. “They played some great tennis. They were confident out there, going for big shots when they needed to. They were consistent when they needed to and just fell to a good team.”

Willow VanDenHeuvel and Eva Heck fell in a match tiebreaker at No. 3 doubles to Addison Puent and Abby Hynes 4-6, 6-3, 10-6.

The loss dropped the Hodags (12-15, 2-3 GNC) back to fifth in the conference standings, with two matches remaining in the dual meet portion of the season. Rhinelander hosted Marshfield Columbus (1-4) Thursday in a match that concluded after press time and will host Medford (3-3) Monday in a match that will likely be for fourth place in the GNC entering next Thursday’s conference tournament.

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].