Hodag tennis advances two flights to sectionals

Things played out about as expected for the Rhinelander High School girls’ tennis team on Monday as it advanced two flights on to the sectional round of the WIAA tournament during a Division 1 subsectional in Wausau.

Seniors Maddie Legrey and Teagan Turcotte moved on to the next round at No. 1 doubles, as did freshman Lucy Evers at No. 4 singles. 

Quarterfinal winners at the No. 1 flights, and semifinal winners in every other flight, advanced to the sectional round Wednesday in Eau Claire. Based on Rhinelander’s seeding going into the tournament, the results panned out as expected. Legrey and Turcotte were seeded fourth at No. 1 doubles while Evers was the top seed at No. 4 singles. Rhinelander would have needed at least one upset to advance in all of the other flights. 

“No one over-performed. No one underperformed. Just a solid day,” Hodag coach Matt Nichols said afterward. 

For the second time in a week, Legrey and Turcotte (14-13) faced the Wisconsin Rapids tandem of Alison Stultz and Stella Kuhn — this time with a trip to sectionals on the line. After rallying from down a set to beat the Rapids pair last week in Rhinelander, Legrey and Turcotte got the tiebreaker out of the way early this time. They took a close first set before dominating the second en route to a 7-6 (2), 6-0 win.

“They came together, they grew together and got a nice win,” Nichols said. “They had beat Rapids earlier, but a more commanding win, straight sets. And beyond the score, though, they’ve grown so much as players and really developed their game individually, but also as a doubles duo. So super exciting for the seniors to move on.”

Evers (21-2) cruised in her two matches on Monday, downing eighth-seeded Samantha Yach of D.C. Everest (6-2, 6-2) and fourth-seeded Isabelle Jennings of Marshfield (6-2, 6-0) to advance. 

“She’s just a very steady player, very consistent, Keeps the ball in, but she also can move the ball well,” Nichols said. “It’s really exciting to see a freshman get that experience … It’s really exciting for the program to see someone come in with some skills ready to perform, and perform at a high level.”

The Hodags were stopped one match short of sectionals in the two other doubles flights, which ended the careers for three Rhinelander seniors. Eva Heck and Willow VanDenHeuvel cruised past Korina Kraegenbrink and Jenna Malluege 6-0, 6-2 in the quarterfinals at No. 2 doubles but then ran into the top-seeded tandem of Haley Champeau and Elaine Titus of Stevens Point, falling 6-4, 6-3. 

It was a similar story for senior Willow Mutter and junior Addy Currie at No. 3 doubles. They defeated Wausau East’s Vivian Notz and Payden Wolf 6-4, 6-1 in the quarterfinals but fell to second-seeded Jerzy Haubert and Abby Hynes of Wausau West 6-0, 6-1 in the semifinals. 

“It was an emotional one after that second round. They all made it through that first round, which was cool for them. Every season eventually comes to an end. It’s bittersweet, but they made a good end of it,” Nichols said. “They all played good tennis. You know, they made Rhinelander proud. They made themselves proud. They made me proud, and they can walk away very proud of their high school career.”

Rhinelander went winless on the day with its trio of sophomores in the top three singles flights. Annie Vander Galien was the ninth seed at No. 1 singles and lost a play-in match against Merrill’s Emily Graham. Sixth-seeded Jordan Manske lost to third-seeded Sophie Cotey of Wausau West at No. 2 and Taylor McKinney also lost as a 6-seed at No. 3, falling to Stevens Point’s Kelsie Kerchefski. All three matches were settled by 6-1, 6-3 score lines.

Sectional play was ongoing Wednesday as of press time. Legrey and Turcotte had lost to No. 1 seed from the Eau Claire Memorial subsectional, Sophie McBride and Emily Halfen of Eau Claire Memorial (22-6) in straight sets 6-1, 6-0, denying the pair a chance to advance to the state meet. 

Evers did not have an automatic path to state at No. 4 singles, even if she won the sectional. She started out against the No. 2 seed from the Eau Claire Memorial subsectional, Anna James of Superior (21-2).

Visit RiverNewsOnline.com for a brief recap of Wednesday’s sectional round and read a full report in Tuesday’s River News.

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].