Hodag tennis downs Pacelli, readies for first-place battle today vs. Medford

The Rhinelander High School boys’ tennis team did what it needed to do to Thursday put itself in position to leave the dual meet portion of the season with the lead in the Great Northern Conference season. Tonight will determine if, or how much of, a lead they will have entering the conference tournament.

The Hodags swept singles and dropped a tight match at No. 1 doubles in a 6-1 victory over Pacelli in Stevens Point on Thursday. 

The victory moved Rhinelander into a first-place tie in the conference with Lakeland with 34 total points. Medford sits in third place, just two points behind the leaders. While Lakeland is done with its conference duals, the Hodags and Raiders will meet this afternoon in Rhinelander to determine which of those teams will enter the May 22 conference tournament at Lakeland in first place. 

“Looking at that, just maintaining the pace, 6-1 was needed. Boys were able to pull it off, and the one loss we had was tight,” Hodag coach Matt Nichols said. “We competed well, and, you know, it’s a good win setting us up for Tuesday and ultimately the conference tourney.”

Rhinelander squandered a chance to enter tonight’s match with the outright lead in the standings — and put a little more separation between itself and the Raiders — as seniors Aiden Ostermann and Michael Schiek were unable to close out a win at No. 1 doubles. 

After winning the first set against Pacelli’s Marcus Lansing and Hunter Wrezinski 6-1, the Hodag pair dropped the second set 6-4 and the match tiebreaker 10-6. 

“I think we came out and we were playing to win. We were hitting shots and we were playing hard. And then after that first set, we just kind of let up a little bit,” Nichols said. “Props to the Pacelli guys, they worked back into the match and ultimately took it. I think Aiden and Michael kind of learned that they have to play hard the entire match until it’s over.  Obviously, we wish that could have been done without having to learn the lesson the hard way, but they’re excited for hopefully a rematch out of the conference tourney.”

Rhinelander rolled in singles, dropping two games total between the four flights in a quartet of straight-set wins. Payton McCue and Karter Massey were 6-1, 6-0 winners at the Nos. 1 and 2 flights while Asher Rivord and Calvin Loomis won 6-0, 6-0 at Nos. 3 and 4 singles. 

“It was nice for the line. All four flights, I think they played a really nice game and just worked their consistent shots and some of the putaways as well,” Nichols said. “So it was good to see them walk away with some wins.”

Pacelli did not have enough players to field a full lineup as the Hodags won at Nos. 2 and 3 doubles unopposed. Van Tulowitzky and Hart Hokens were credited with the win at No. 2 doubles while Owen Evers and Aidan Lueder picked up the win at No. 3.

It all sets up a showdown between the Hodags and Raiders this afternoon at the RHS tennis courts. Both teams scored 6-1 wins over Pacelli and Ashland. The only thing separating the teams thus far in the conference standings is Rhinelander’s 5-2 win over Lakeland, compared to Medford’s 4-3. Teams are awarded two points in the conference standings for each individual flight they win during the dual meet portion of the season.

Any sort of dual victory tonight will give Rhinelander the outright lead in the standings entering the conference tournament. Rhinelander and Medford would be tied in the standings should the Raiders score a 4-3 win and Medford would need to win by a margin of 5-2 or greater to take first outright heading into the conference tournament. 

“It’ll be interesting because I think that since they’ve played Lakeland, and since we played Lakeland, we faced two different Lakeland teams and also I think they might have changed the lineup a little bit. So all of that will affect things how it will. But I think we’re a strong team. We’re really focused on what we can do on our side of the court. We’ve been getting after that in practice. And we’re excited for the opportunity to play them head-to-head. Obviously, that’s huge. That’s going to make a difference in the conference. And the boys are ready for it. They’re excited for it.  

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].