Hodag netters have winning weekend at Wausau West

The Rhinelander High School boys’ tennis team went 3-2 in its matches Friday and Saturday in the Wausau West Invitational. The Hodags went 2-1 in Friday’s play with a 5-2 win over Medford and a 4-3 win over Pulaski to go along with a 6-1 loss to Bay Port. 

Rhinelander dropped a match 6-1 to Menomonie on Saturday and picked up a 5-2 win over Wausau East. 

The Hodags shuffled their lineup, particularly in the rematches they had on Friday, and coach Matt Nichols said there were some fruitful experiments. 

“We’re just about halfway through the season, and it was fun to try some new things,” he said. ‘We played some teams we’ve already played, so just to get guy’s different look at some different game, switching singles to doubles or just getting a different matchup. We decided to change things up, see how it goes, and also, a lot of it, it was all intentional in trying to develop these players’ games as they move forward.”

In particular, the Hodags mixed things up against Medford, the team it is tied with for first in the Great Northern Conference standings. In Friday’s match, which had no bearing on the standings, Calvin Loomis bumped up to No. 1 singles and earned a match tiebreaker win over Parker Hill. Asher Rivord moved from No. 1 singles to No. 1 doubles with senior Danek Koniar, and the two rolled in straight sets off Christian Preuss and Cash Thums. Henry Bonardelli went from No. 1 doubles to No. 3 singles and picked up a straight-set win, as did Mark Currie at No. 4 singles. 

Rhinelander got a second match tiebreaker win against the Raiders from Brayden Barnhill and Kellen O’Malley at No. 2 doubles. The two played together all weekend at the flight, posting a 3-2 record. 

“Brayden Barnhill and Kellen, they kind of stood out in their compatibility, their mindset, and being able to push,” Nichols said. “They lost in straight sets against Menominee today, but it was a set tiebreak and then the second one was 5-7. It was good to see that flight push hard against a competitive team and grow as players too.”

Aside from the Medford match, Rivord was at No. 1 singles the rest of the weekend and saved the Hodags from being swept Saturday against Menomonie with a 6-3, 4-6, 10-6 win over Caleb Gunderson in a match tiebreaker. It was part of a 4-1 weekend overall for the Hodag junior.

Calvin Loomis had a straight-set win at No. 2 singles against Bay Port on Friday, the Hodags’ lone win against the Pirates. Loomis went 3-0 on Friday but was unavailable Saturday due to participating in the state solo and ensemble band and choir festival in Stevens Point. 

“Asher, at that No. 1 singles, he’s obviously the best singles players we have on, so this player we have on the team, but he’s really, really proving to be a competitor outside of even the Northwoods,” Nichols said. “He had a great weekend, same with Calvin at No. 2 singles. Unfortunately, Calvin couldn’t play today because of he was at state solo and ensemble, but, he went 3-0. It was great to see.”

Koniar won three matches at No. 1 doubles with three different partners over the weekend. In addition to his win with Rivord against Medford, he and Aidan Lueder teamed up for a win against Pulaski, and he was back with Bonardelli on Saturday in a straight-set win over Wausau East. 

Barnhill and O’Malley were the lone doubles tandem to play all five matches over the weekend. Rhinelander used three different combinations at No. 1 doubles and four different pairs at No. 3 doubles. While the Hodags’ lone win in the third flight was by default with Braydon Lorman and Neo Martin Saturday against Wausau East, Lorman and Roan Childs went to match tiebreakers in both of their matches on Friday. 

“We’re also trying to finalize who is the strongest pairings, and I think this weekend we took a step forward in the direction of getting more competitive flights, but also figuring out what pairings make those strongest flights, and once we have those pairings developing them even further,” Nichols said.

Rhinelander was back down in the Wausau area Monday facing Eau Claire North and D.C. Everest in a triangular hosted by Everest. The Hodags come home this afternoon for a non-conference match against Stevens Point. 

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].