Hodag tennis sweeps Pacelli, retakes GNC lead

The Rhinelander High School boys’ tennis team moved one step closer to history on Monday, taking care of business in its final Great Northern Conference dual meet of the season.

The Hodags made short work of an understaffed Pacelli squad, sweeping all four contested matches in a 7-0 victory at the RHS tennis courts. 

Rhinelander (4-0, 44 pts.) needed to win at least six of the flights to leapfrog Medford (3-1, 40 pts.) for first place in the GNC standings entering next Thursday conference meet in Rhinelander. The Hodags will have a four-point margin over the Raiders as they seek a GNC-record 12th consecutive conference championship. 

“The boys kind of knew that’s where we wanted to end up after the match,” Hodag coach Matt Nichols said. “And, back in the lead, it’s nice having a little buffer. I mean, it’s a close race. So any point, every point is going to make a difference.”

There wasn’t much drama in any of the contested flights Monday. Rhinelander dropped three games or fewer in all four matches as it cruised to the win. 

In singles, Asher Rivord took the top flight with a 6-0, 6-2 win over Dirk Dreger. Calvin Loomis prevailed 6-2, 6-1 at No. 2 against Sam Zurawski and Aidan Lueder rolled to a 6-1, 6-0 win in the third flight against Gavin Lepak. 

Danek Koniar and Henry Bonardelli commanded the lone doubles match, cruising to a 6-1, 6-1 win over Sean Berna and Mateo Ramos.

“Kind of across the board, I think we just overpowered the opponent — serving, returns, pace on the ball during the rallies. I think it was just something that Pacelli couldn’t handle,” Nichols said. “That being said, our guys played well. They definitely pushed through the whole time. Serving, it was good to see. That was a big win for us, just having good, consistent, hard serves. And then, we worked a lot on pace, and this was a good match to practice it on, and they brought it, and hopefully, we’ll continue to bring that through the rest of the season.”

Mark Currie picked up an uncontested win for the Hodags at No. 4 singles. Ditto the Hodags’ Nos. 2 and 3 doubles pairs of Brayden Barnhill and Kellen O’Malley, and Roan Childs and Owen Evers.

While a couple of conference duals remain to set the overall standings heading into next Thursday’s GNC tournament, it’s clear the quest for the conference title will be a two-horse race between Rhinelander and Medford. The Hodags, essentially, staked their four-point lead over the Raiders by virtue of a 4-3 win head-to-head at Medford back on April 16. The Hodags will have history on their side. Every boys’ team that has entered the GNC tournament with the lead in the point standings has gone on to win the overall conference title.  

Nichols said, while not insurmountable, four points is a nice cushion to have going into the tournament. 

“I think it’s going to make a difference. I mean, we squeaked out a 4-3 win over Medford. They’re obviously the clear competition for the crown. Every match is going to be important,” he said. “How it shakes out with the seeding with such a small conference, every single flight, it’s gonna be an important win because a lot of those flights, there’s gonna be points regardless. It’s gonna be huge and that four-point (margin) could make all the difference come the end of the day.”

The Hodags will play in one final non-conference tournament at the RHS tennis courts in preparation for the GNC tournament. Rhinelander will play three matches today and two more tomorrow as part of the eight-team invite, which is being co-hosted by Lakeland. 

“This tourney, it’s our tuneup,” Nichols said. “We got a nice variety of teams. There’s some really competitive teams. There’s some teams that might be a little lower. So it’ll be a great time for tennis. Weather looks amazing. We’re finally getting into that summer-feeling weather, which everyone enjoys on a nice day playing some good tennis.”

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].