Newman sweeps singles, downs Hodag tennis 5-2

The Rhinelander High School girls’ tennis team ran over a significant speed bump Thursday on what it hopes to be the road to a Great Northern Conference championship.

Wausau Newman swept singles and took the No. 1 doubles flight as well as it defeated the Hodags 5-2 at the RHS tennis courts. 

The loss came to last year’s conference runner-up and a WIAA Division 2 team state qualifier from a season ago. On paper, Newman may be the favorite to win the conference title this year. However, following a roughly 30-minute post-match meeting with his team, coach Matt Nichols told the River News the Hodags are far from out of the conference race at this early point of the season.

“The message is that when we look at our goals, and our goal to win conference, that it has obviously become more challenging,” he said. “We’re kind of at a crossroads in our season, and it’s definitely more challenging, but we’re at an early point in our season where there’s still a road to victory. But it just will really depend on the attitude that the girls take at practice and in future matches.”

All six Newman players who won matches on Thursday were returning All-GNC players from last year, while the Hodags have no returning all-conference players from a season ago. That showed through in the results as Newman’s Addie Schmitt and Emma Larrain didn’t drop a game en route to straight-set wins over sophomores Annie Vander Galien and Jordan Manske at the top singles two flights. Addison Puent also cruised at No. 4 singles with a 6-1, 6-0 win over Becca Brost. Brecklyn Lindner was pushed hardest in singles, beating Rhinelander sophomore Taylor McKinney 6-3, 6-3 at the No. 3 flight. 

In doubles, reigning conference players of the year Molly Merrill and Evelyn Herdrich took a 6-0, 6-3 win over Teagan Turcotte and Maddie Legrey at the top flight. 

“I was surprised by some of the scores that came in, some of the play,” Nichols said. “We know that they’re a strong team. They’re a very consistent team. They do return three players, both their one (flights) that had went to state. So they definitely have experience there. And it showed in some of these what could have been tighter matches.”

Rhinelander’s wins came at Nos. 2 and 3 doubles. Willow VanDenHeuvel and Eva Heck rolled to a 6-0, 6-0 win in the second flight. Ditto Willow Mutter and Addy Currie at No. 3. 

If there is a weakness in Newman’s case for a conference title, it is at the bottom two doubles flights. Newman is currently 3-0 in conference play. All three wins have been 5-2 decisions where the two losses have come at Nos. 2 and 3 doubles.  

“No surprise (for us) to win at 2 and 3. They have some very new players. We have some experienced players who have played at least a couple years here,” Nichols said. “I think that’s the one chink in their armor — and definitely opens the door for many other teams. We look at the dual we both had against Antigo, we beat them 7-0, they beat him 5-2. We’ve already made up some points in that game right there. And if that pattern continues, the depth that we have, will hopefully carry us through, earning some more points in some of these shared duals and bring us back to the top by the time we hit the tourney.”

Not that the conference race is down to a two-team affair. Medford is also off to a 3-0 start and has yet to drop an individual flight as it currently leads the conference standings by six points over Newman. Stevens Point Pacelli improved to 2-0 in conference play with a 6-1 win over Marshfield Columbus on Thursday. 

With those two teams still looming on Rhinelander’s schedule, Thursday’s loss provides very little margin for error if the Hodags are going to reach their stated goal for the season of getting back to the  top of the GNC.

“It puts some pressure on, and it’s a question of, the girls know where we’re at. We’re at this crossroads. We know the path that we have to take,” Nichols said. “Without focusing too much on the outcome, can they stay focused in the match and get some big wins where we need them?”

The Hodags were back in action Friday hosting a four-team meet at the RHS tennis courts that concluded after the early Labor Day weekend deadline for today’s edition. Visit RiverNewsOnline.com for a recap of that meet and read a full report in Friday’s River News.

Rhinelander continues GNC today at Phillips and will host Medford on Thursday.  

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].