MEDFORD GIRLS TENNIS - Tennis team crushes Columbus, goes 3-1 at West to reach 10 wins

MEDFORD GIRLS TENNIS

The Medford Raiders aren’t likely to land a top-three spot in the Great Northern Conference’s girls tennis standings by season’s end, but fourth place would be a onespot improvement over last year and that is well within reach after a 6-1 win at Columbus Catholic Tuesday.

The dual-meet win Tuesday pushed Medford to 3-3 in GNC duals with one big one left and 10-7 overall. With 48 points, the Raiders are currently tied for third place in the GNC with Newman Catholic. The 4-1 Cardinals have duals left with the last two teams in the standings, Antigo and Phillips, and will likely separate themselves from Medford heading into the Sept. 26 GNC tournament, which Lakeland will host starting at 9 a.m.

Columbus Catholic has put its two best players together at number-one doubles, Maria Elizabeth Garcia and Akosua Yeboah, and they earned the Dons’ lone win Tuesday, beating Medford’s Indya Mann and Grace Holmes 6-1, 6-1.

After that, it was all Medford. Partners as of last week at number-two doubles, Lily Holmes and Bayley Metz won their fifth straight match with a 6-1, 6-1 sweep of Claire Graham and Mary Keding, while Hannah Dahl and Rachel Daniels improved to 4-0 together in flight three, shutting out Jade Kuhn and Kate Fieweger 6-0, 6-0.

Audrey Ruesch swept her number-one singles match with Azariah Hoffman McGee 6-0, 6-0. Natalie Preuss beat Bella Maurer 62, 6-0 in flight two, Makenna Tlusty was a 63, 6-0 winner over Vivian Graham in flight three and Tallula Hahn took the number-four match 6-0, 6-1 over Norah Alcott.

Medford’s last GNC dual meet will be played Monday at Rhinelander in the makeup date of a Sept. 5 postponement. The Hodags are 2-3 in GNC playing heading into their meet tonight with Columbus Catholic and are 10 points behind the Raiders with 38. The race for fourth place will come down to the Raiders and Hodags.

3-1 at West

Medford got quality court time over the weekend while compiling a 3-1 dual-meet record at the two-day Wausau West Invitational.

On Friday, Medford won twice, defeating Wisconsin Valley Conference squads D.C. Everest 5-2 and Merrill 7-0.

Against the Evergreens, Ruesch picked up a 6-0, 6-4 win in the top singles match, defeating Mila Bublich. Tlusty took the flightthree match 6-2, 6-1 over Ruth Xiong and Raider Emily Kiselicka defeated Holly Hahn 6-2, 6-0 in flight four. Everest’s Brooklyn Costa downed Preuss 6-2, 6-3 in flight two.

The Raiders nearly got a doubles sweep. Lily Holmes and Metz won the number-two match 6-3, 7-5 over Izabel Lezcano and Kali Rutta while Dahl and Daniels were paired up for the first time at number-three and won 63, 6-1 over Shela Lee and Brynn Kampmann.

The number-one match went the distance with Everest’s Qiarie Burns and Emily Ringwelski splitting the first two sets with Mann and Grace Holmes. The Everest duo took the match tiebreaker 10-4.

All of Medford’s wins over Merrill came in straight sets.

In singles, Ruesch beat Emily Frahm 6-2, 6-2, Preuss beat Sarah Rell 6-0, 6-1, Tlusty took care of Claire Hintz 6-1, 6-1 and Hahn was a 6-2, 6-3 winner over Greta Peterson.

In doubles, Mann and Grace Holmes cruised past Jenna Malluege and Korina Kraegenbrink 6-1, 6-0. Metz and Lily Holmes defeated Grace Hoock and Johanna Dahlke 61, 6-2 and Sydnie Peterson and Daniels rolled in the number-three match 6-1, 6-0 over Rose Dornbrack and Parker Wagenaar.

Day two featured matches against Wausau West and GNC rival Antigo.

The host Warriors rode a singles sweep to a 5-2 win over Medford. Lily Holmes and Metz won again at number-two doubles, beating Stella Olson and Jerzy Haubert 6-0, 6-1, and Dahl and Daniels took the numberthree match 6-2, 6-2 over Lily Bizjak and Maria Voigt. West’s Rachel Harder and Mallory Smogoleski beat Mann and Grace Holmes 6-2, 6-1 in flight one.

Kiselicka had the match of the dual meet at number-four singles. She went the distance with Carmen Ghidorzi in each of the first two sets. Ghidorzi won the first-set tiebreaker 7-5 to take the set 7-6. Kiselicka won the secondset tiebreaker 8-6 to stay alive. Ghidorzi won the match tiebreaker 10-7 giving Kiselicka just her second singles loss of the fall.

Mia Bailey swept Ruesch 6-0, 6-0, Lilly Wittwer did the same to Preuss 6-0, 6-0 and Emily Lucht beat Tlusty in a good numberthree match 6-3, 6-4.

In a 7-0 win over Antigo, Lily Holmes and Metz completed a 4-0 weekend at numbertwo doubles with a 6-3, 6-0 win over Matty Ratliff and Faith Cassetta. Daniels and Dahl capped a 3-0 weekend at number-three with a 6-0, 6-0 shutout of Evie Lucht and Maggie Neufeld. Grace Holmes and Mann cruised past Anna Huess and Heidi Baumgartner 6-0, 6-1.

In singles, Ruesch beat Hailey Burhop 6-1, 6-0, Tlusty won the number-two match 6-0, 6-1 over Elyse Packard, Kiselicka took the number-three match 6-3, 6-1 and Hahn swept Addison Burhop 6-0, 6-0.

Newman 6, Medford 1

Tlusty was a straight-set winner at number-three singles on Thursday, but the Raiders ran into a Newman Catholic team that matched their depth in a 6-1 home loss to the Cardinals.

Tlusty swept Newman’s Olivia Fox 6-1, 6-1 while improving to 10-1 overall at the time in singles play. From there, it was a tough outing for Medford on a beautiful fall afternoon for tennis.

The top two doubles matches were competitive, but Newman got the wins in straight sets. Molly Merrill and Evelyn Herdrich, both GNC award winners last fall, outlasted Grace Holmes and Mann 6-4, 6-3 in flight one, while Naomi Stenstrom and Fiona MacCarthy defeated Lily Holmes and Metz, who teamed up for the first time in varsity play this fall, 6-3, 6-3 in flight two.

Medford suffered only its second loss of the season in a number-three doubles match when Addison Puent and Abby Hynes beat Dahl and Peterson 6-4, 6-1.

Reagan Herdrich beat Ruesch 6-0, 6-1 and Addie Schmitt downed Preuss 6-1, 6-0 in the top two singles flights.

Medford was beaten at number-four singles for only the second time this fall. Emma Larrain was a 6-2, 6-0 winner over Hahn.

Natalie Preuss serves during her numbertwo singles match with Newman’s Addie Schimtt. TERRY WERNER PHOTO