Raiders gain confidence with nearmiss against unbeaten Hodags

MEDFORD BOYS TENNIS

The Medford Raiders probably won’t catch Rhinelander in the Great Northern Conference title chase, but they made the Hodags work like they haven’t worked all year Tuesday on the MASH courts.

By winning three singles matches and taking the number-three doubles match to three sets, the Raiders pushed Rhinelander to the brink in Tuesday’s dual, but the Hodags remained undefeated by pulling out a 4-3 win.

“We needed this,” Medford head coach Jake Bucki said. “We’ve been talking all year about just improving, improving, improving. A lot of the guys talked about how they wanted to play Rhinelander again after we lost to them up there.”

Tuesday’s result left Medford with a 6-2 record in GNC duals and 82 team points. Rhinelander is 7-0 in the GNC and 15-0 overall and has 88 conference points. All but one of Rhinelander’s previous duals had ended in scores of 6-1 or 7-0. Only D.C. Everest got two matches from the Hodags on May 8 before the Raiders won three Tuesday.

The Hodags will extend their lead in points when they finish GNC play today, Thursday, at Antigo. But it will be interesting to see how the Raiders can do in matchups against the Hodags in Friday’s GNC tournament, which will wrap up the regular season.

Rhinelander hosts Friday’s meet, which starts at 9 a.m.

Quinton Tlusty (9-1) had the biggest revenge match Tuesday in the numbertwo singles match, reversing a 6-1, 6-4 loss from May 11 with a dominant 6-2, 6-1 win over Rhinelander’s Joey Belanger. Ethan Swiantek, who was Medford’s only winner in the first dual with Rhinelander, got his second win of the year over Leo Losch at number-three. The first time he won in three sets. This time, he was a 6-3, 7-5 winner over Losch.

Swiantek is 11-0 while playing in three different singles flights.

In flight four, Brayden Balciar, who played in a doubles match in the teams’ first meeting, defeated Rhinelander’s Joey Sturzl 6-0, 7-5. Balciar was down 5-3 in the second set and turned it on when he needed to, winning four straight games to close it out.

Rhinelander’s lone singles win came in flight one, where 2019 GNC Player of the Year Jacob Weddle beat Medford’s Logan Searles 6-2, 6-2.

Medford’s number-three doubles teams of Brayden Machon and Dante Axon took set one against Hodags Jakob Losch and Joseph Heck 6-1, but the Hodags picked things up after that and won the next two games 6-3, 6-2 to seal the match and, ultimately, the dual for their team.

Luke Ring and Elijah Evers were 6-3, 6-2 winners over Tahtankka Damm and Kevin Damm in flight one doubles. That was virtually the same score they won by the first time. Billy Berwig and Layne Roeser beat Medford’s Saskatoon Damm and Adam Swedlund at number-two.

After Friday’s GNC meet, it’s on to the WIAA Division 2 Eau Claire Regis subsectional Monday, where the Raiders are in position to do quite well. The field includes teams Medford (10-2 overall) has already beaten like Regis, Antigo, Ashland, Lakeland and Pacelli, as well as Altoona. Flight one semifinalists and finalists in all other flights will advance to the Altoona sectional on Wednesday. There, qualifiers from the Regis and West Salem subsectionals will compete with the top scoring team, flight one semifinalists and flight two champions qualifying for state competition. Bucki said La Crosse Aquinas appears to be the team to beat from that subsectional.

Medford 7, Lakeland 0

The Raiders got five forfeits and easily won the two matches that were played Thursday at Lakeland.

Swiantek swept Max Bybee 6-0, 6-0 in the number-one singles match and Saskatoon Damm and Swedlund bumped up to number-one doubles and earned a 6-1, 6-2 win over T-Birds Zac Muenzner and Henry Shockley.

Forfeit wins went to Tlusty, Tahtankka Damm and Balciar in singles and to the doubles teams of Kevin Damm and Colbe Bull and Axon and Machon.