Hodag tennis bounces back with win over Everest

The Rhinelander High School boys’ tennis team returned to the win column Tuesday. The Hodags scored a doubles sweep and claimed the bottom two singles flights in a 5-2 victory over D.C. Everest at the RHS tennis courts.

The Hodags improved to 7-4 on the year and snapped the four-match losing streak they were on following a tournament last weekend in Stevens Point. The win closely resembled Rhinelander’s last home win, a 5-2 victory over Lakeland on April 22. 

Just like the Lakeland match, the Hodags took all three doubles matches as well as Nos. 3 and 4 singles. Also like the Lakeland match, sophomore Calvin Loomis gave the Hodags their fifth point of the night with a come-from-behind win at No. 3 singles. 

This time around Loomis dropped the opening set against Everest’s Brecker Thomas 4-6, but took the second 6-4 to force a match tiebreaker. Loomis controlled the tiebreak, cruising to a 10-4 victory. 

“Another close match, and I think the biggest thing is that he just continues to play his game,” Hodag coach Matt Nichols said. “Sometimes he just gets a little tense, but as long as he swinging through, he’s following the strategy and just confident in the process. He plays a really good game and it’s hard to beat, and we saw that especially through the second set and the tiebreak. He commanded that. You see it not only in the score but also on how he was playing. He was hitting big shots, big winners, and it pays off.”

    Rhinelander’s Danek Koniar serves during a non-conference boys’ tennis match against D.C. Everest at the RHS tennis courts Tuesday, April 29. Koniar and doubles partner Aidan Lueder rolled to a straight-set win at No. 3 doubles, part of a doubles sweep for the Hodags in a 5-2 win. (Bob Mainhardt for the River News)
  

Meanwhile, it was a convincing sweep in doubles for the Hodags. The tandems of Aiden Ostermann and Michael Schiek (No. 1), Van Tulowitzky and Hart Hokens (No. 2) and Danek Koniar and Aidan Lueder (No. 3) all rolled to straight-set victories. 

“We’ve worked a lot on doubles positioning, double strategy, just getting reps and getting touches,” Nichols said. “Nothing fancy today, just kind of standard strategy and just out-rallying (them) really from the net, putting balls away there. It was fun to see, No. 1 doubles especially, they’re really lighting it up and moving really well.”

Asher Rivord cruised at the No. 4 singles flight, defeating Noah Klauk, 6-0, 6-0.

“Asher, especially at the No. 4 singles spot, he’s a really strong player,” Nichols said. “He’s a strong competitor and just his hustle, his consistency and developing points and putting away balls at the net. It went to a pretty quick match and the easy win for him.”

At the top singles flight Payton McCue lost to Ted Kitchell, a 2024 qualifier for the WIAA state tournament, 6-2, 6-0. Karter Massey lost to Tim Waller 6-1, 6-2 at the No. 2 flight. 

“At the No. 1 flight we were expecting a tough match a guy we saw last year, veteran senior, went to state last year. You know he has some nice shots in there and just couldn’t outlast in the points and it was a nice loss for him. He had a lot of good points in there,” Nichols said. “Karter is continuing to develop his game. Ultimately felt short on, again, the consistency side, but you know talking points and things to focus on moving forward and learning. That’s always a big takeaway in a loss.”

Because the Hodags were idle in Great Northern Conference play, they were leapfrogged by Medford for first place in the conference as the Raiders defeated Pacelli 6-1 on Tuesday. Medford is 10 points ahead of Rhinelander, but has only one more conference dual remaining — against the Hodags in Rhinelander May 13. The Hodags will travel to Stevens Point to take on Pacelli May 8 prior to rounding out dual meet play against the Raiders. 

The Hodags will be in Wausau today and tomorrow for a non-conference multi-dual invite. Nichols said he was eager for rare back-to-back practice days to prepare for the tournament.

“We got two days of practice coming up really dive into you know what we saw from the (Stevens Point) tourney, what we saw today, and then fine-tune some things,” he said. “Still waiting for a schedule but it looks like a good group of schools. We could compete with all of those teams and then those are the most fun where it’s close, it’s competitive and it really pushes us.”

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].