Hodag netters knock off Medford, climb back into GNC race

The Rhinelander High School girls’ tennis team pulled off a significant win in the Great Northern Conference championship race on Thursday, scoring a trio of match tiebreaker victories to knock off Medford 5-2 at the RHS tennis courts.

Not only did Rhinelander move to 3-1 in conference duals with the win, the Hodags handed the Raiders their first loss of the conference season. Medford had won each of its first four dual meets by 7-0 margins.

“It was a huge win. That’s a talented Medford team, top to bottom,” Hodag coach Matt Nichols said. “It was going to be close, just looking at some comparable matches. We knew that every flight was a winnable or losable match. The girls, they all competed so hard. We had three tiebreaks. They all were able to pull through and win those, just a huge day play-wise. And also when we look at conference and points, that’s a good day for us.” 

Medford claimed the top two doubles flights in straight sets, while Rhinelander won Nos. 2 and 3 singles in straight sets, leaving a 2-2 score with the three pivotal swing matches still on the court. Sophomore Annie Vander Galien and freshman Lucy Evers both rallied after dropping their first sets to win the second and match tiebreakers in singles. The No. 3 doubles squad of Addy Currie and Willow Mutter lost the second to force a match tiebreaker but responded in the race to 10.

    Rhinelander’s Lucy Evers plays a point during a GNC girls’ tennis match against Medford at the RHS tennis courts Thursday, Sept. 4. Evers rallied to defeat Medford’s Raylin Rothmeier at No. 4 singles, 2-6, 6-2, 10-5, part of the Hodags’ 5-2 victory in the dual. (Bob Mainhardt for the River News)
  

Vander Galien overcame a sluggish start at No. 1 to race past Medford’s Tallula Hahn 3-6, 6-1, 10-4. It was a similar story for Evers at No. 4 as she dropped the first to Raylin Rothmeier 2-6, flipped the second to a 6-2 win and took the tiebreak 10-5. 

“At Nos. 1 and 4 singles, I think they had starts where they were trying to feel out their opponent, still maybe a little nervous being kind of newer to the varsity line,” Nichols said. “But that second set, they really were able to loosen up, re-strategized, executed the strategy, and then both of them just pulling that strategy through the tiebreak, staying mentally there, was crucial for their play and ultimately led to the win.”

Currie and Mutter had a tight match the whole way with Medford’s Uliah Etsitty and Averie Werner. The Hodags pair took the first set, 7-5, dropped the second 4-6 and then prevailed in the tiebreaker, 10-7.

“Three doubles, they were in a tight one as well. Kind of a different scenario, losing the second set, but winning the first,” Nichols said. “I think looking at their gameplay, they started to let up a little bit. And toward the end of that second set, (they were) playing harder, playing to win and carried it through that tiebreak, and ultimately took the win.”

Sophomore Taylor McKinney had the most convincing win, either way, on Thursday, defeating Medford’s Caidyn Zenner 6-2, 6-1 at No. 3 singles. Sophomore Jordan Manske downed Kady Weix 6-4, 6-4 in the No. 2 flight.

“Very consistent shots, but also appropriate winners. We took calculated risks and we were able to execute the shots we needed to,” Nichols noted.

Both losses for Rhinelander were competitive, decided by a single broken game per set. Teagan Turcotte and Maddie Legrey fell to Makenna Tlusty and Bayley Metz 6-4, 7-5 at the No. 1 doubles flight while Eva Heck and Willow VanDenHeuvel lost to Chloe Kapitz and Ellie Eckert at No. 2, 6-4, 6-4.

“That was really cool to see even in the loss that they were pushing games,” Nichols said. “They were making their opponent work. The opponent definitely earned the win. There’s no shame in anything that, the one in two doubles flights did. They played hard.”

While Medford still leads the GNC standings with 60 points, Thursday’s results closed the gap at the top. Wausau Newman moved into second place at 44 points and Rhinelander is third with 42 points. Both have played one fewer match in league play than Medford and 14 points are available in each match. Pacelli improved to 3-0 in the league and sits fourth at 36 points — having played two fewer matches than the Raiders. 

The top four teams are slated to play against each other today as the GNC title race continues to come into focus. Medford will host Wausau Newman while Rhinelander travels to Stevens Point to face Pacelli.

“There seems to be a lot of unanswered questions at this point, but the further we get down, the more doors are going to close and the different potentials for a conference crown are going to slowly become limited,” Nichols said. “Pacelli’s another tough team. That’s going to be another tough match. And this was a great match for the girls against Medford … So if they can take what they learned, what they did and carry that forward, it’s going to lead to even more success in their future.”

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].