Balciar goes 3-0; Raiders get valuable court time at B-W

MEDFORD BOYS TENNIS

Medford’s lack of depth cost the Raiders a team win or two, but ultimately the biggest victory in Saturday’s Baldwin-Woodville Quad was simply getting the opportunity to play some tennis.

After a rough weather week limited their ability to practice, the Raiders soaked up some sun, even if it was a bit cool, and went 0-2-1 in their three dual meets.

Medford began the meet with a 4-3 loss to Osceola, fell 5-2 to the host Blackhawks and then tied Ashland 3-3 when both teams were unable to fill a complete lineup.

Sophomore Brayden Balciar had a big day for Medford, going 3-0 in singles matches.

Already knowing they wouldn’t have senior Brayden Machon available, the Raiders went into the meet with nine players, one short of a full lineup. Number- one singles player Quinton Tlusty came down with arm soreness midway through the Baldwin-Woodville match, knocking the Raiders’ roster for the day down to eight.

“If we have our full lineup and Quinton is healthy, we would’ve beaten Ashland, we probably would’ve beaten Osceola and we might even have beaten Baldwin-Woodville if you take the injury default out,” Medford head coach Kyle Ranum said. “But it was OK. We got a chance to play. Our young guys got in some good matches and it was a nice day to play.”

Medford’s top singles players notched wins in the opener with Osceola as did the number-two doubles team of Dante Axon and Mason Reimann. They weathered a close first set and then took over in the second set in a 7-5, 6-1 win over Griffin DeRosier and Aidan Gallagher. Tlusty buried William Huhn 6-0, 6-1.

At number-two singles, Balciar won the match of the dual, rallying from a setone loss to defeat Gavin Almlie 4-6, 6-2, 10-7.

Carson Holman defeated Medford’s Conner Klingbeil at number-three singles 6-2, 6-1 in Klingbeil’s first-ever tennis match. Medford forfeited the number- four match. Sampson Federation and Ethan Landgreen won a competitive number-one doubles match with Medford’s Saskatoon Damm and Brett Lundy 6-2, 6-4, while Ethan Race and Carl Perry swept Medford’s Alex Wilson and Nathan Willman 6-0, 6-0 at number-three.

Balciar won again at number-two singles against Baldwin-Woodville, beating Connor Barnett 6-0, 6-2. Damm moved to flight three singles and earned a 6-2, 6-4 win over Collin Fritts.

But from there it was all Blackhawks. Michael Krinke was credited with the 2-0, 2-0 default win over Tlusty and the Raiders forfeited the number-four match to Aiden Holm. In doubles, Sam Sykora and Caleb Lokker swept Axon and Klingbeil 6-0, 6-0 in flight one, Tyler Smigla and Gus Kroening swept Reimann and Lundy 6-0, 6-0 in flight two and Jerome Dietzman and William Eggink took care of Wilson and Willman 6-0, 6-0 in flight three.

Against Ashland, Balciar completed his unbeaten day by sweeping Gage Kabasa in the flight-one match 6-0, 6-0, while Willman got credit for a forfeit win in flight four.

The best match came at flight three singles where Ben Snyder won a marathon match with Reimann. The first set went to a tiebreaker, which Snyder won 7-3 to take the set 7-6. Reimann came back with a convincing 6-2 win in the second set to force a third-set 10-point tiebreaker. They went well beyond that before Snyder finally got the necessary twopoint margin at 17-15 to win the match.

Harry Diesberg beat Wilson in flight two 6-2, 6-1.

Axon and Klingbeil breezed to a 6-0, 6-0 win over Benji McPherson and Steven Snedecker in the number-two doubles match, but Ashland’s Austin Vyskocil and Bodee Mikkonen defeated Damm and Lundy 6-1, 6-1 to even the meet. With Ashland only having seven players, there was no match at number-three doubles.

“We had only had two full outdoor practices,” Ranum said. “We got better as the day went on. We have guys who’ve never picked up a racquet and played in a match before and they improved the more they played.”

Medford’s meet at Lakeland Tuesday was moved to April 29 and the Raiders’ home opener against GNC power Rhinelander today, Thursday, has been postponed. Medford will be at Wausau West Tuesday for non-conference play before traveling to Stevens Point Pacelli for a GNC dual on April 21.