MEDFORD BOYS TENNIS - Tennis team still searching for first dual win after 0-3 Saturday

MEDFORD BOYS TENNIS

The Medford boys tennis team’s quest to get into the win column went unfulfilled Saturday when the Raiders dropped three dual meets at the Amery Quad.

The day featured five matches that went to 10-point match tiebreakers and several sets that went to tiebreakers. The Raiders had to work around the absence of undefeated number-two singles player Conner Klingbeil and their top player, Brayden Balciar, was withheld from the dual meet with Ashland. Another of the Raiders’ top players, Cale Schulz, also did not play against the Oredockers.

Medford’s closest dual was a 4-3 loss to Osceola, the Raiders’ second loss to the Chieftains in as many Saturdays. Osceola beat Medford 5-2 at Baldwin-Woodville on April 6.

This time, Medford got a numberthree doubles win from Cale Schulz and Christian Preuss and split the singles matches. But they couldn’t find that fourth win to get them over the top.

Schulz and Preuss won key points at key times to defeat Atley Thomas and Chase Klein. The teams got to a 6-6 tie in the first set, which ended with Schulz and Preuss winning the tiebreaker 7-5 to win the set 7-6. The Raider duo finished things off with a 6-4 win in the second set.

Jude Stark filled the number-two singles spot and won a back-and-forth match with Aidan Gallagher 6-3, 1-6, 10-4. Keagan Gehrke won the number-three match over Owen Henningsgard 6-2, 7-5.

Medford teamed Balciar up with Parker Hill at number-one doubles. Osceola’s Mason Jordan and Owen Jordan beat them 6-3, 6-4, while August Dressel and Bradley Ramsey beat Raiders Caleb Egle and Cole Zenner 6-1, 6-4 in flight two.

Mason Reimann moved to singles and a tough matchup with 2023 state qualifier Gavin Almlie in the top flight. Almlie won 6-0, 6-0. Wyatt Larson defeated Medford’s Blaine Searles 6-2, 6-2 in flight four.

Osceola beat Amery and Ashland by 5-2 scores to win the quad.

Amery went 2-1 on the day to finish second. The Warriors beat Medford 5-2.

Balciar got a hard-fought win in the top singles match over Blake Anderson, a sectional qualifier last spring, 7-5, 1-6, 10-8. Stark also went to a 10-point match tiebreaker at number-three. He rallied after a first-set loss and won the match over Amery’s Wyatt Graff 1-6, 6-1, 10-6.

Schulz also pushed his number-two singles match to a match tiebreaker. Unfortunately, he came up short against Ryan Moskal, who won 4-6, 6-3, 105. Liam Zinn defeated Raider Ethan Kollmansberger in the number-four match 6-2, 6-1.

The Warriors swept the doubles matches. Sean Evenson and Alex Lester beat Reimann and Hill in flight one 6-0, 6-1. Benjamin Lorsung and Brodrick Malon survived the first set against Gehrke and Egle in flight two and went on to win 7-6 (6), 6-0. Benito Widiker and Nelson Wilcox were 6-3, 6-1 winners over Preuss and Zenner.

The short-handed Raiders fell to new conference rival Ashland 5-2. They got one singles win and one doubles win.

Kollmansberger and Preuss, a pair of freshmen, won the number-three doubles 6-2, 6-1 over Steven Snedker and Colton Pupp. Zenner and Searles came close in flight two, but Danny Kelley and Benj McPherson got the three-set win 6-2, 3-6, 10-7. Austin Vyskocil and Bodee Mikkonen were 6-1, 6-2 flight-one winners over Hill and Egle.

Gehrke moved up to number-two singles and earned a 6-1, 6-4 win over Adrian Erickson. Reimann played a solid match but was defeated in flight one by Harry Diesburg 6-3, 6-2. Stark played yet another three-set match and extended the last set beyond 10 points, but Oredocker Toryn McFarlane won the flight-three match 0-6, 6-4, 12-10.

Medford forfeited the number-four match to Lucas Oliphant.

The Raiders will be back at it today, Thursday, traveling to Stevens Point Pacelli in a Great Northern Conference dual meet that was postponed by the extreme wind and rain Tuesday. Medford heads to Ashland for a GNC dual Tuesday before hosting Eau Claire Regis in a 4:30 p.m. dual on April 25.