Hodag tennis picks up two more wins in Wausau

WAUSAU — The Rhinelander High School boys’ tennis team is finding a knack for winning competitive dual meets early in the season. 

The Hodags won two more on Saturday, defeating Wausau East and Wausau West by matching 4-3 scores in a non-conference triangular in Wausau. The wins moved Rhinelander to 4-0 on the season — all of which have been 4-3 wins over Division 1 schools.

“It’s exciting. A win’s a win,” Hodag coach Matt Nichols said afterward.

Sophomores Calvin Loomis and Asher Rivord won both of their matches at Nos. 3 and 4 singles, respectively for the Hodags on Saturday while Michael Schiek paired with two different partners to secure two wins at No. 1 doubles. 

Loomis got the decisive point for the Hodags against Wausau East, staving off triple match point to defeat Wausau East’s Julio Flores in a match tiebreaker 6-2, 3-6, 12-10. That put the Hodags up 4-2 and proved to be a needed win as Wausau East’s Mathias Clements and AJ Wunsch rallied from behind at No. 2 doubles to defeat Van Tulowitzky and Hart Hokens 5-7, 6-3, 10-7 in the final match on the court. 

“Calvin 12-10 win in his tiebreaker, that’s close and that’s a huge win to put the team at a 4-3 victory,” Nichols said. “That’s so cool to see. We talked about the mentality and a tiebreak. Obviously, you want to just go up, but to execute it so well from behind, it’s cool to see, especially as a sophomore, well done to him.”

That win could also bode well for the Hodags as they enter GNC play. East has already defeated the two teams that figure to be Rhinelander’s toughest competition in a bit for an 11th consecutive GNC title — Lakeland and Medford — by 4-3 decisions.

“Good news for us as we still finish and finalize our lineup, I’m hoping we can, if we see East again, we can take that away. We saw that the No. 2 doubles was really close,” Nichols noted. 

    Rhinelander’s Asher Rivord plays a point during a non-conference boys’ tennis match against Wausau West in Wausau Saturday, April 12. Rivord won both of his matches at No. 4 singles as the Hodags scored 4-3 wins over Wausau East and Wausau West. (Jeremy Mayo/River News)
  

Loomis had an easier time in his second match, racing past West’s Timmy Wittwer, 6-1, 6-0. Meanwhile Rivord made short work of his opponents in the fourth flight, getting past East’s Yejoon Kim, 6-1, 6-1 and West’s Aidan Hebert, 6-0, 6-0.

“Having Asher at four, that’s just a very strong lock at No. 4 singles. It’s great to see both him and Calvin down there,” Nichols noted.

Schiek and fellow senior Aiden Ostermann picked up Rhinelander’s lone win at doubles against East, defeating Carter Clements and Elliot Harding 6-4, 6-1 in the top flight. Schiek switched partners for the West match as Ostermann and Payton McCue flipped between No. 1 singles and doubles. Schiek and McCue broke a 3-all tie in the dual and scored the decisive point with a 7-5, 6-2 win over Derek Emon and Nathan Yang. 

The Hodag pair dropped four straight games in the first set to fall behind 5-4, but rallied to close out the set and then ran off six of the final seven games in the second set. 

“I think they just started to kind of get a little flat through that first set,” Nichols noted. “Closing the first set out and onto the second, they seemed to pick it up and play to the level they knew they needed to play at, which is good to see.”

Nichols said the move of McCue to doubles was temporary and served to benefit both McCue and Ostermann, who fell 6-3, 6-1 to West’s AJ Lupkowski. 

“We’re trying to protect Payton — he’s got a slight injury going on — but still get him some play,” he said. “It was a good benefit for Aiden to get some high quality ground strokes. That’s going to complement his doubles game.” 

Rhinelander also got a win at No. 3 doubles against West as Danek Koniar and Brayden Lorman rolled to a 6-2, 6-0 win over Teagan Deffmer and Nathan Vazquez. 

“That No. 3 doubles team, as we finalize kind of where we’re going with that, it was fun to see that and they really capitalized on that opponent’s weaknesses,” Nichols noted.

The Hodags are scheduled to open Great Northern Conference play this afternoon on the road at Ashland. 

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].