Doubles teams advance from subsectional; team finishes 4th

MEDFORD GIRLS TENNIS

All three of Medford’s doubles teams extended their girls tennis seasons Monday by going undefeated at Monday’s WIAA Division 2 Antigo subsectional.

The Raiders’ top team of Lindsey Wildberg and Sophie Brost needed one more win at Wednesday’s WIAA Division 2 Baldwin-Woodville sectional to qualify for next weekend’s state tournament in Madison, while the number-two team of Kelsey Jascor and Masaeda Krug needed two wins. As flight three competitors, the farthest Myah Smith and Eryka Seidl could have gotten was to win their flight’s sectional championship.

With five of their seven wins coming in doubles competition, the Raiders placed fourth in Monday’s eight-team subsectional with 14 points. They outscored Columbus Catholic (10) and the winless teams of Ashland, Phillips and Wisconsin Rapids Assumption.

“We did look really good, playing the best we have all year probably,” head coach Jake Bucki said.

Antigo and Newman Catholic led the group with 18 points, while Stevens Point Pacelli scored 16. Amery and Eau Claire Regis each scored 20 points at Monday’s Baldwin-Woodville subsectional and entered Wednesday’s sectional meet as the leaders in the race for the team championship and the winner of a berth in the Division 2 state team tournament on Oct. 23.

As flight-one entrants, Wildberg and Brost needed just one win Monday to advance to the sectional. The Raiders’ second-seeded team had no trouble getting that win, sweeping Destiny Lo and Gabby Hackett of Newman Catholic 6-1, 6-0.

The Raiders’ duo was one of eight number-one doubles teams looking to gain one of the four state berths available in the bracket Wednesday. Brost and Wildberg first met Baldwin-Woodville’s team of Brooke Albrightson and Allison Albrightson in the quarterfinal round with the winner clinching a state berth. Medford’s number-two team of Kelsey Jascor and Masaeda Krug beat the Albrightsons in the season-opening Baldwin- Woodville Quad when Brost and Wildberg were playing singles matches.

The quarterfinal winner drew either Evie Shepich and Teigan Petersilka of Regis or Maya Kuhn and Maria Elizabeth Garcia-Moya of Columbus Catholic in the semifinals. The other side of the sectional bracket had Antigo’s Faith Bussiere and Ellie Packard playing Rice Lake’s Lexington Berger and Kallahan Bowman in one quarterfinal and Amery’s Alaina Rivard and Ella Gould facing Pacelli’s Ella Schroeder and Marissa Stolt in the other.

In flight two, Jascor and Krug, the subsectional’s second seed, opened with a convincing 6-2, 6-1 win over Denali Volkman and Lizzy Gruenich of Columbus Catholic. With a sectional berth on the line, they took care of business and dominated Antigo’s third-seeded team of Bailee Vander Sanden and Molly Neufeld 6-1, 6-1.

Jascor and Krug had a tough sectional semifinal matchup with Rice Lake’s Emily Mofle and Natalie Nolin. The other semifinal had Abby Erickson and Caroline Shepich of Regis facing Amelia Jacoby and Julia Storch of Pacelli. The semifinal winners met to determine who qualifies for the state while the losers played for third place.

Smith and Seidl needed two wins to advance at number-three doubles and they got those wins easily. As the subsectional’s top seed, Smith and Seidl cruised past eighth-seeded Megan Moffitt and Briteny Kastern of Ashland 6-1, 6-0 in the quarterfinal round and did the same against fifth-seeded Grace Martin and Ada Stenstrom of Newman Catholic, 6-0, 6-1, in the semifinal round.

In Wednesday’s sectional bracket, they drew Baldwin-Woodville’s Maggie Jensen and Kylie Kastel. Back on Aug. 17, they beat Medford’s team of Seidl and Alyssa Brandner 7-5, 6-4 in a numberthree match.

The other semifinal had Amery’s Marissa Fisk and Annabelle Fisk playing Pacelli’s Jayden Hytry and Anabelle Arnold.

In singles play Monday, Medford’s Morgan Huegli was seeded third at number- two singles and got a 6-1, 7-5 quarterfi nal win over Ashland’s sixth-seeded Madison Pecher. Huegli made a push toward a sectional berth against secondseeded Ava Sukanen of Newman Catholic, but Sukanen held her off 6-2, 2-6, 6-2 to advance.

At number-three, fifth-seeded Makayla Motte was granted a 2-0, 2-0 default win over fourth-seeded Allison Lange of Pacelli, who was force to retire from the match due to injury. That sent the Raider junior to a semifinal match with top-seeded Akosua Yeboah of Columbus Catholic, who won it 6-0, 6-0 to advance.

In flight one, Autumn Higgins was seeded sixth and was defeated 6-0, 6-1 by third-seeded Maria Laura Garcia-Moya of Columbus Catholic. In flight four, sixth-seeded Christine Czeshinski lost a close match to third-seeded Amanda Lansing of Stevens Point Pacelli, who won it 7-5, 6-4.

If any of the Raiders advance to state, that competition begins Thursday, Oct. 14 at Nielsen Tennis Stadium on the UWMadison campus.