Team review: RHS boys’ tennis

The Rhinelander High School boys’ tennis team reached some rarified air this spring in terms of Great Northern Conference domination.

The Hodags won their 11th consecutive conference championship, tying Mosinee softball for the most consecutive titles in Great Northern history. 

It wasn’t an easy feat for the Hodags — considering that the team graduated seven seniors from its 2024 squad, but the Hodags still managed to win all four of their conference duals and win the conference title. 

Hodag coach Matt Nichols said earlier last month during the team’s banquet that defending the conference title was a motivating factor for the team this season. 

“There was kind of a buzz around, you know, we’re going for 11 conference titles in a row,” he said. “And that, you know, created a very driven atmosphere, and I think it around that goal, you really connected the team together.”

The Hodags went 10-9 overall in dual meets on the season, placed second in its seven-team Division 1 subsectional and sixth in its 15-team sectional. 

Here are five key storylines from the recently completed season.

Seniors stepping up

    In this May 27, 2025 file photo, Rhinelander’s Aiden Ostermann, left, awaits a serve while teammate Michael Schiek looks on during a WIAA Division 1 subsectional in Rhinelander Tuesday, May 27. The two went 13-9 together at No. 1 doubles and qualified for the sectional round of the WIAA tournament. (Bob Mainhardt for the River News)
  

For the Hodags to repeat as conference champions, this year’s group of seniors all had to step in to much larger roles than they had a season ago. 

Payton McCue vaulted from No. 3 singles to the top spot in the varsity lineup while Karter Massey went from a varsity backup to the team’s No. 2 player. Aiden Ostermann and Michael Schiek moved up from the team’s third doubles flight to the No. 1 spot while Van Tulowitzky and Hart Hokens broke into the varsity lineup in the No. 2 doubles spot. 

McCue and Massey shifted over to doubles in non-conference in postseason play, but all of them played a significant role in laying the foundation for the Hodags’ lineup this spring. 

McCue finished the year below .500 overall, posting an 11-14 record between singles and doubles while Massey went a combined 10-15. Schiek and Ostermann were 13-9 together at No. 1 doubles while Hokens and Tulowitzky were 13-8 together in doubles.

“They brought a lot of commitment in dedication. A lot of these kids put in a lot of hours outside of the season, outside of practice during the season. Obviously, they bring a lot of talent and that’s really helped to push and form a lot of the younger players,” Nichols said of this year’s seniors. “And they’ve held the tradition of Rhinelander tennis strong. We look at our 11th conference championship, and there’s just no way we could have done that without the seniors. Every one of them made a huge difference in the line, whether it be directly or indirectly, and they’ve influenced their teammates and have just fostered another excellent season of Hodag tennis.” 

Clutch wins early

Right out of the gate, the Hodags had to deal with adversity, losing the ability to use the Hodag Dome for practice due to damage sustained as a result of a backup generator failure during a March 30 ice storm. 

Rhinelander had to adjust on the fly as a result, playing its first matches on the road in Green Bay April 8 as opposed to hosting D.C. Everest in a non-conference dual meet. But a detail emerged from that impromptu road trip that became a common theme throughout the year — the Hodags had a knack for winning tight matches. 

Rhinelander scored 4-3 wins over Green Bay West and Ashwaubenon in the opener, and then beat both Wausau East and Wausau West 4-3 during a triangular in Wausau. Sophomore Calvin Loomis pulled out his first of four match tiebreaker wins on the season in the April 12 match against Wausau East, exemplifying the Hodags’ ability to come through in close matches. 

“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.”

Drive for 11

While Rhinelander scored easy 6-1 wins over Ashland and Pacelli in GNC play, that knack for pulling out close matches served the Hodags well in their duals against the teams who figured to be their chief rivals for the conference title this spring — Lakeland and Medford. 

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 April 22 in Rhinelander. In that match Loomis rallied for a three-set win at No. 3 singles, Asher Rivord needed to play all 12 games of the first set at No. 4 before earning a straight-set win, while Tulowitzky and Hart Hokens fended off a first-set tiebreaker in their victory. 

Rhinelander went into a May 13 match against Medford needing to take at least three flights from the Raiders in order to ensure the conference lead heading into the GNC tournament. The Hodags did two better, winning 5-2. That included a marathon 6-1, 4-6, 15-13 victory for McCue over Medford’s Cale Schulz at No. 1 singles that gave Rhinelander an eight-point lead heading into the conference tournament. 

Rhinelander clinched its 11th straight conference title fairly early in the conference tournament, but ended up locked with Lakeland in a battle to see who were earned the most points on the day. The Hodags needed match tiebreaker wins in the championship round by Rivord and  Loomis at Nos. 3 and 4 singles to secure a 34-30 win over Lakeland for first place in the tournament.  

“We talked about different strategies. And that’s what’s so nice about both of their games is they have more than just one or two things that we can work with. And props of them, too, they’re very open to trying some different things, trying new strategies, and able to execute it. When they did that, they did it well, and it was good enough to force the tiebreak and then also get the tiebreak win,” Nichols said.

Postseason run

    In this May 13, 2025 file photo, Rhinelander’s Payton McCue hits a return during a match against Medford’s Cale Schulz during a GNC boys’ tennis dual meet at the RHS tennis courts. McCue posted a 11-14 record on the season, playing the majority of his matches at No. 1 singles or No. 2 doubles. (Bob Mainhardt for the River News)
  

While McCue and Massey mainly played singles in conference duals, they shifted to doubles for many non-conference matches and postseason play. The bolstered doubles lineup served Rhinelander well in the playoffs as all three doubles pairings — Ostermann and Schiek, McCue and Massey and Tulowitzky and Hokens — advanced through the subsectional round of the tournament. Though the group was unable to score any wins at sectionals, Nichols said getting all six seniors to the second round of the postseason was a great way to cap the season.

“All six seniors to qualify onto sectionals is a huge feat,” he said. “You look at the rest of the sub(sectional) here, the rest of the sub in Eau Claire, and even throughout the state, there’s many seniors who did not make it onto sectionals. So for all six of them to represent the school so well and qualify on is a huge win in itself.”

What’s next

For Rhinelander to break the tie with Mosinee softball and claim its 12th straight conference title next year, it will likely need to rely on the same formula it had this spring. With six seniors gone, all of whom held prominent spots in the lineup, it will be incumbent on the returning players to take on much more significant roles next year. 

Some of those players got a taste of that during the postseason as Rivord (15-7) bumped up to No. 1 singles for the playoffs and Loomis (12-11) took the No. 2 spot in the lineup — pulling off an upset win over D.C. Everest’s Tim Waller at subsectionals before losing one win shy of a trip to sectionals. 

Sophomore and first-year tennis player Aidan Lueder stepped in at No. 4 singles at subsectionals and fell in a match tiebreaker with a trip to sectionals on the line. 

“They’ve got future subsectionals and gameplay in general ahead of them. So for them to get that experience, kind of see that top level where they’re at, assess that, but also where they’re going to is huge in their development,” Nichols said of his all-underclassman singles lineup at subsectionals.

Rhinelander had others step in during the season, either at the bottom of the singles lineup or at No. 3 doubles, including senior-to-be Danek Koniak, junior-to-be Brayden Barnhill and sophomores-to-be Braydon Lorman and Owen Evers. 

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].