hockey season. She saw action ….
hockey season. She saw action Tuesday in two doubles matches and won her singles debut in a tiebreaker over Barron’s Chance Dexter.
“She came last year to the first week of practice, because she wasn’t sure if she’d be able to play with her hip, and she was one of our top doubles players then,” Bucki said.
Junior Kierstyn Halopka and sophomore Morgan Strebig are two more players knocking at the door and senior Emmalee Clarkson and junior Christine Czeshinski are also practicing with the varsity and hoping to seize an opportunity. Junior Chloe Werner and Halopka won the number-three doubles match Tuesday against Baldwin-Woodville.
In all, nearly 40 players are out for tennis this spring, keeping Bucki and JV coach Marlana Livingston busy in split morning practices.
“We need to work on our awareness and our footwork right now,” Bucki said. “We had good attitudes overall (Tuesday). Some people need to work their way into a spot and they can. There’s probably three or four spots that are still up for grabs.”
Bucki viewed Great Northern Conference competition as a great unknown this year, especially since there was no end-of-season tournament last year to gauge where each program was at. While Antigo and Rhinelander are always near the top, Medford’s success against teams like Lakeland, Newman Catholic and Stevens Point Pacelli could determine if the Raiders can finish in the upper half of the standings in the eight-team league.
Antigo is listed as the WIAA Division 2 subsectional host this year. That meet will include six GNC teams plus Ashland and Wisconsin Rapids Assumption. Medford will also host those two teams in a triangular on Sept. 23. The Raiders hope to get some players back to Baldwin-Woodville for the sectional meet, set for Oct. 6.
“We have a lot of room to grow and a lot of work to put in,” Bucki said. “The effort was there (Tuesday). It’s not like we were giving up on balls or mentally gave up in matches. Those are things you can control. The tennis stuff will take care of itself.”
