Raiders looking formidable in their 7-1 start to the season

MEDFORD BOYS TENNIS

Decisive wins over Stevens Point Pacelli and Antigo have Medford’s boys tennis team in prime position to earn at least a top-two finish in the Great Northern Conference and a third win has the Raiders thinking they could be a postseason factor in June.

The Raiders improved their overall record to 7-1 and their GNC mark to 3-1 Tuesday with a 6-1 win over Pacelli on the MASH courts that very nearly was a 7-0 sweep. All six of Medford’s wins came in straight sets.

The only exception was a marathon match at number-three singles, where Medford freshman Brayden Balciar took Pacelli senior Isaac Kosobucki to the limit before falling in three sets with the third set going to a tiebreaker. In fact, both sets that Kosobucki won went to tiebreakers. He won the first set 7-6 by taking the tiebreaker 7-4. In the final set, Balciar battled back from a 6-1 deficit to pull within 6-5 before the Pacelli senior got the clinching point after a long rally.

Balciar won the second set 6-1.

Resting number-two singles player Quinton Tlusty, the Raiders shifted the lineup a bit, but still found great success.

Logan Searles improved to 6-1 in singles play with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Charlie Kulick in the number-one match. Ethan Swiantek moved up to number-two and took a 6-1, 6-0 win over Wes Peplinski. Swiantek is 7-0 while having played at three different singles flights early in the season.

Saskatoon Damm played his second number-four singles match of the spring and won for the second time, beating Bennett Eckendorf 6-2, 7-5.

Tahtankka and Kevin Damm were 6-1, 6-2 winners at number-one doubles over Pacelli’s Jacob Mengel and Mateo Koch. Colbe Bull and Brayden Machon downed Eli Robinson and Brian Pekarek in flight two 6-0, 6-2. Adam Swedlund and Dante Axon filled the number-three spot and defeated Ian Osypowski and Tyson Krueger 6-0, 6-1.

The results give Medford 38 team points through four GNC duals. Rhinelander, at 4-0, holds the lead with 52 points.

Medford grabbed control of second place Friday afternoon with a 5-2 win over visiting Antigo.

The win was highlighted by three straight-set singles wins. Searles blew by Simon McPhail 6-0, 6-0 in flight one and Tlusty settled in after a couple of up-anddown early games for a 6-4, 6-1 win over Sam Bretl.

In a lengthy, competitive numberthree match, Swiantek outlasted Antigo’s Calvin Jensen 6-4, 6-4. In an even longer match, Antigo’s Nolan Bunnell took a well-played flight-four match over Balciar 6-3, 4-6, 6-4.

Bull and Saskatoon Damm had little trouble with Antigo’s Frank McKenna and Aaron Converse in the number-two doubles match, winning 6-0, 6-2. Machon and Swedlund were forfeit winners at number-three.

Antigo’s strong number-one doubles team of Garrett Husnick and Jerome Jones won a tough first set with Tahtankka and Kevin Damm in a tiebreaker 7-6 (6). They carried that momentum into a set two, which they won 6-1.

Antigo will host the rematch with Medford today, Thursday, at 5 p.m. and the rematch with Pacelli is set for Monday in Stevens Point, also at 5 p.m. Med- ford goes to last-place Lakeland on May 27 before hosting Rhinelander June 1.

Medford 5, Regis 2

On Monday, the Raiders maintained their winning ways by handing Eau Claire Regis its first dual-meet loss of the spring in a 5-2 decision. The Ramblers came into the meet at 7-0 with wins over teams like Superior, Chippewa Falls, New Richmond and Holmen. They, along with Altoona, could be Medford’s top competition at the WIAA Division 2 Regis subsectional on June 7.

On the MASH courts, singles success again paved the way for Medford’s big victory.

Searles and Swiantek won third-set, 10-point tiebreakers to seal the deal for the Raiders. In flight one, Searles lost his first set to Alex Erickson 7-5, but he evened things up with a 6-3 set-two win. Searles took the tiebreaker 10-4 to win the match. In flight three, Swiantek started out with a 6-2 first-set loss to Adler Bowe, but Swiantek tied it up with a 6-1 win in set two. Swiantek got on a roll in the tiebreaker and clinched the win 10-2. Tlusty earned a solid 6-4, 6-2 win over Alex Nunez at number-two, while Balciar took care of Rambler Zach Leber in flight four 6-1, 6-3.

Bull and Machon teamed up to defeat Jude Multhauf and Hank Axelrod 6-0, 6-3 at number-three doubles.

The Ramblers got their wins in the top two doubles flights. Anderson Lowry and Jack Merrick beat Tahtankka and Kevin Damm 6-3, 6-2 in flight one. Merrick was a sectional qualifier in singles two years ago. David Hasselwander and Noah Helms defeated Swedlund and Saskatoon Damm 6-4, 7-5 in a competitive numbertwo match.