Hodag netters fend of Lakeland 5-2 in GNC test

Last year’s GNC runner up Lakeland was eager to give Rhinelander a run for its money this year. On Tuesday night, however, the Hodags proved that the road to the GNC boys’ tennis title — as it has since 2014 — still runs through Rhinelander. 

The Hodags swept doubles and picked up close wins in the bottom two singles flights to defeat Lakeland 5-2 in a GNC dual meet.

Rhinelander jumped to 2-0 in the conference duals, and with teams only playing a single round-robin schedule this year, every win earned in dual play is doubly important. 

“It’s really important to collect those points early. If you have a lead into the conference tourney, it’s not impossible, but very hard to catch a team,” Hodag coach Matt Nichols said. “So, not just a 4-3, but a 5-2, was definitely a huge step forward in the conference points for the team.”

The win moved Rhinelander to 6-0 on the young season and, once again, the team’s knack for winning close matches showed through on Tuesday. Sophomore Calvin Loomis rallied for a match tiebreaker win at No. 3 singles and fellow sophomore Asher Rivord needed to play all 12 games of the first set at No. 4 before earning a straight-set win and the No. 2 doubles team of Van Tulowitzky and Hart Hokens fended off a first-set tiebreaker in their victory.

“We’ve really emphasized mindset. Especially with a younger team, we really have to develop not only their strokes, but also their mentality on the court,” Nichols said. “It’s really cool to see Asher pull from 4-5 in the first set to a 7-5 win, for Calvin to pull a second set win and then in a match tiebreak after losing 1-6. That’s just really huge, especially from some younger players, showing where their mind is at and where this team is looking to go.”

    Rhinelander’s Aiden Ostermann hits a return during a GNC boys’ tennis match against Lakeland at the RHS tennis courts Tuesday, April 22. Ostermann and No. 1 doubles partner Michael Schiek cruised to a 6-1, 6-0 win. (Bob Mainhardt for the River News)
  

The match was tied at two a piece early on as Lakeland’s Dominic Gironella and Jack Stepec rolled in the top two singles flights over Rhinelander’s Payton McCue and Karter Massey. The Hodags countered with convincing wins at No. 1 doubles from Aiden Ostermann and Michael Schiek, and at No. 3 doubles with Danek Koniar and Braydon Lorman. 

Rivord won the first of the swing matches, fending off Lakeland’s Carson Tegland 7-5, 6-4. Rivord rallied from down a break, 4-5, in the opening set to reel off three straight games, including two on Tegland’s serve. Rivord jumped out to an early 3-0 lead in the second set before Tegland rallied to get back on serve at 3-2. The two exchanged games from there before Rivord broke Tegland in the 10th game to close out the match. 

“That was a fun match to watch, and Asher had a lot of fun,” Nichols said. “Just two very skilled players, long rallies, both with great ball control. Asher, he always brings a huge hustle game and I think that was a big piece of his win is just hustling some of these balls down and keeping the point going one more ball, where he could either put it away or his opponent would make an error.”

Tulowitzky and Hokens labored in the first set before winning the 12th game and forcing a tiebreaker against Lakeland’s Jayden Shepski and Marshal Czlapinski. The Hodag tandem jumped out to a 5-1 lead in the tiebreak and eventually closed it out 7-4 on a Tulowitzky winner. Tulowitzky and Hokens raced out to a 4-1 lead in the second set before eventually taking a 6-2 win and securing the dual-clinching point. 

“The first set, I don’t know that they played to their potential,” Nichols said. “It was nice to see them step up their game, elevate it to what we’re looking for, what their striving to become, and then really use those skills to capitalize on a commanding second-set win.”

Loomis played the longest match of the night. After dropping the first set 6-1 to Lakeland’s Gage Bowe, he rallied from down an early break to get back on serve at 4-3 and then broke Bowe in the 12th game with a cross-court winner to force a match tiebreaker. 

Loomis led the tiebreaker most of the way, but was unable to put away three match point chances as Bowe rallied to tie it 9-all. After a Bowe error, Loomis ripped a hard passing shot by Bowe for match point and an 11-9 win in the tiebreak.

“The first set it looked like he was just kind of passive,” Nichols said. “He was just working to stay in it, and we talked about, ‘Hey, you need to be hitting your groundstrokes confidently. If you can make a play on the ball, you have to do that.’ He started making plays on some more of the points. He worked the point to a favorable shot, and he took it, and he was winning points off of that.”

The win gives Rhinelander an early leg up in the GNC standings at 2-0 and 22 points overall, having won 11 of 14 flights in its first two conference duals. Lakeland, despite sitting 0-2 is second with 10 points and Medford, which beat Lakeland 4-3 earlier this month, sits third with eight points.

Rhinelander will put its undefeated record on the line today and tomorrow in an 11-team invite in Stevens Point that will feature a number of Division 1 teams. The Hodags are slated to play six matches. 

“We’re excited for some good competition down there. No doubt we will get pushed and it’ll be good to see some good competition and play good competition,” Nichols said.

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].