Team preview: RHS girls’ tennis

The last two years have been decidedly down for the Rhinelander High School girls’ tennis team after winning 11 of the previous 13 Great Northern Conference championships. 

Rhinelander finished third in the GNC in 2023 and fifth in the conference last year. Furthermore, last season marked the first time since joining the GNC that the Hodags failed to have any flight earn all-conference honors by placing in the top three at the conference tournament. 

The Hodags are looking to change that this year and get back to the top of the conference. Coach Matt Nichols said most of the work to get there has already been done with a strong offseason for the program, now it’s a matter of showcasing that work on the courts.

“The big thing is the offseason, and I think that the varsity girls showing up, they showed that they want it,” he said. “They put in the time and that’s what it really takes. Once we get to the season, it’s so quick, there’s so many matches in a row. It’s just fine-tuning. So these girls who put in all that time over the summer developing their technical skills, some strategy, we can fine tune that real easily, accelerate their game and match play and get them ready to be a conference championship team by the end of the season.”

The Hodags are going to have to rebuild after graduating six seniors off of last year’s squad who occupied the Nos. 1 and 2 flights at both singles and doubles. Most of Rhinelander’s returning varsity players have matriculated over to the doubles side of the lineup and the team enters the year with basically a brand new singles lineup.

Five seniors are set to anchor the doubles lineup for the Hodags — Maddie Legrey, Teagan Turcotte, Eva Heck, Willow VanDenHeuvel and Willow Mutter. 

Legrey shifts over from singles, where she was 14-12 last year, and is slated to start the season with Turcotte at the No. 1 flight. Turcotte, who was part of a platoon at No. 3 doubles last year, was 9-4 in her varsity matches. Two others from that platoon — Heck and VanDenHeuvel — are set to move up to the No. 2 flight. They went 8-9 as a tandem last year. 

Mutter went 6-4 last year in spot starts at Nos. 2 and 3 doubles. She will be joined by the one newcomer to the doubles fold, junior Addy Currie. 

“They’re all close, they’re all friends, they get along well, the chemistry’s there, and then mixing in Addy Currie (who’s) just very fundamentally strong, mentally there. I think we have three very strong pairings,” Nichols said.

    Annie Vander Galien hits a return during Rhinelander High School girls’ tennis practice Thursday, Aug. 14 at the RHS tennis courts. Vander Galien, a sophomore, is set to make her varsity debut at No. 1 singles for the Hodags after prevailing in a series of challenge matches last week at practice. (Jeremy Mayo/River News)
  

Rhinelander will enter the season unproven in singles as the four projected starters will all be playing their first varsity matches. That includes the sophomores who came out of last week’s challenge matches with the top two spots in the lineup — Annie Vander Galien and Jordan Manske.

“I think, what really defined their game —and really their tennis and how much they’ve improved — is just their mentality and their grit,” Nichols said. “They are competitors, they go out there, they want to win, and they do whatever it takes. Whatever that takes is a lot of the offseason hitting. But once they’re in a match too, they are focused, they’re locked in, and they don’t take no for an answer. They’re going to go down fighting.”

Another sophomore, Taylor McKinney, came out of the challenge matches with the No. 3 spot in the singles lineup and the team’s lone freshman, Lucy Evers, claimed the No. 4 spot. 

Nichols said while the singles lineup is young, they earned their spots, which was a testament to the work they put in during the offseason.

“These sophomores and our freshmen, I mean, they were hungry. They all came to summer camps, they were coming to league, open hits. All of them did not play varsity last year. Obviously, the freshman (Evers) is new, but the three sophomores, they were right there, but they never cracked the varsity 10,” he said. “For them to pull that in the offseason is just amazing to see. It’s very exciting to see all their hard work pay off, and I’m excited to see them compete because, if they can beat some of our returning players who are already competitive in a lot of matches last year, obviously our singles have gotten stronger.”

Juniors Sam Aschenbrenner and Becca Brost, who split time at No. 4 singles last year, will add depth to the singles lineup while two sophomores, Adalynn Strobel and Alexia Corey-Luse, are expected to see spot starts in doubles. 

Nichols cautioned that starting positions were not set in stone following last week’s challenge matches and having 14 varsity-caliber players will be a benefit as they continue to push each other throughout the season.

“Having 14, I mean, that’s huge when we look at tourneys, keeping people fresh. If we ever have an injury, absences, illness, we have the depth this year,” he said.

The Hodags will begin to see how it all comes together this week. Today marks the final scheduled day of the two-day Bay Port Invite, though yesterday’s play — which was set to take place after press time for today’s edition — was in question due to rain. Regardless of how much tennis the team plays, Nichols said the Hodags will be challenged down in the Green Bay area.

“That is always just a great tourney to (get) learning experience for the team,” he said. “The coaches really get to see in play, where are we strong, where are we weak? What do we want to focus on at practice? What do we need to find tune? But it’s really exciting for a lot of these girls who have put in so much time hitting, but not playing, they can get that match experience as we tune up for our first dual on Thursday.”

Rhinelander opens the GNC slate on the road Thursday at Antigo and, following a two-day meet in Wausau next Monday and Tuesday, will have its home opener against Wausau Newman Aug. 28. 

On paper, the Cardinals may be the team to beat in the GNC. Though they were edged by Lakeland for the conference title, they clipped the T-Birds at sectionals last year to qualify for the WIAA D2 team state tournament. Newman is slated to return seven starters from that squad.

Though Lakeland is the two-time defending GNC champion, it graduated nine of it 10 starters off last year’s team. Nichols wasn’t ready to write off the T-Birds just yet and said Pacelli, with five starters slated to return, cannot be counted out either.

“A lot of those teams, they reload well. They can get freshmen who come in with a lot of tennis experience, technical skills, strategy. So I think those three are kind of the biggest contenders,” he said.

Rhinelander will host the GNC tournament Sept. 25 and then travel to Wausau for a WIAA Division 1 subsectional in Wausau Oct. 6. The Hodags are one of two GNC schools in the field there, along with conference newcomer Merrill, which comes over from the Wisconsin Valley Conference this year.  

Nichols said the goals for the season are to get back to the top of the GNC and to send multiple flights through to sectionals. 

“We have a good returning team, and they have a lot of energy, and if they can continue with this, they have a really high ceiling,” he said. “It’s just, where are we going to go? And now that we’ve earned our spot on the team, can we continue to compete against other teams?”

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].

TEAM SCHEDULE

Date    Opponent/Event    Time

8/18    Bay Port Invite    —

8/19    Bay Port Invite    8:30 a.m.

8/21    at Antigo    4:30 p.m.

8/25    Wausau West Invite    10 a.m.

8/26    Wausau West Invite    9 a.m.

8/28    WAUSAU NEWMAN*    4:30 p.m.

8/29    HODAG QUAD    10:30 a.m.

9/2    at Phillips*    5:15 p.m.

9/4    MEDFORD*    4:30 p.m.

9/9    at Pacelli*    4:30 p.m.

9/11    MERRILL*    4:30 p.m.

9/12    Wausau West Invite    10 a.m.

9/13    Wausau West Invite    9 a.m.

9/16    at Marshfield Columbus*    4:30 p.m.

9/18    LAKELAND*    4:30 p.m.

9/25    GNC MEET AT RHS*    9 a.m.

9/30    WISCONSIN RAPIDS    4 p.m.

10/6    WIAA Subsectionals at Wausau West    9 a.m.

*Conference matches | HOME MEETS IN CAPS