MEDFORD BOYS TENNIS - Tennis team gets big GNC win at Lakeland, also gets a win at Amery

MEDFORD BOYS TENNIS

Non-conference play to start the boys tennis season has been tough for the Medford Raiders in the win/loss column, but the Raiders got Great Northern Conference play off to a fine start Tuesday, upsetting last year’s GNC runner-up Lakeland 4-3 in Minocqua.

The Raiders swept the doubles matches and got a key win from freshman Ethan Jones in the number-four singles spot as he downed Adam Roska 6-4 in the first set and then held off Roska in a second-set tiebreaker 7-5 to win the set 7-6 and clinch the match.

The doubles sweep started with a wellplayed 6-1, 6-1 win for Mason Reimann and Blaine Searles over Lakeland seniors Carson Tegland and Sawyer Brown in flight one. Both of Lakeland’s players earned All-GNC second-team honors last spring.

At number-two Jaeden Brandner and Cole Zenner improved to 2-2 since being paired up in the last week. They took care of Lakeland’s Marshall Czlapinski and Jayden Shepski 6-4, 6-1. Raiders Christian Preuss and Axl Spanbauer, playing together for just the second time, were 63, 6-3 winners over seniors Eli Novak and Gage Coffen in flight three.

Lakeland’s top three seniors won in singles play. Dominic Gironella took the number-one match against Cale Schulz, who nearly took the match to a third set in a 6-0, 7-5 final. Jack Stepec beat Ethan Kollmansberger 6-1, 6-0 in flight two and Gage Bowe beat Cash Thums 6-0, 6-2 in the number-three spot.

Now 2-7 in dual meets, Medford is at the Altoona Quad today, Thursday, where it will face the host Railroaders, Viroqua and Black River Falls.

The Raiders will host Stevens Point Pacelli in their home opener April 24 at 5 p.m.

1-2 at Amery

The Raiders got outside on the best weather day of the spring so far on Saturday and got their first win of the season during a 1-2 day at the Amery Quad.

Medford’s win was a 5-2 victory over GNC rival Ashland, who the Raiders will see again on April 29. They dominated two doubles matches, got a key singles win from Brandner and got two matches by forfeit.

Brandner took the flight-two singles match 6-1, 6-3 over Ashland’s Lucas Oliphant for his first singles win of the spring. Schulz and Searles cruised to a 60, 6-0 win over Colton Pupp and Nate Kostac in flight-one doubles and Thums and Spanbauer swept Steven Snedker and Trevor DeJesus 6-0, 6-0 in flight two. Medford got its forfeits at flight-four singles and flight-three doubles.

Ashland’s Adrian Erickson beat Parker Hill 6-1, 6-3 at number-one singles and Lincoln Lemieux defeated Preuss 6-4, 6-4 at number-three.

The host Warriors beat Medford 6-1 with the number-two doubles team of Brandner and Zenner collecting the only win. They had to earn it, taking the 10point match tiebreaker 10-8. They won the first set 6-4, but Amery’s Nelson Wilcox and Sean Graf won a hard-fought second set 7-5 to force the tiebreaker.

After that, it was all straight-set wins for Amery. In doubles, Sean Evenson and Alex Lester beat Schulz and Searles in flight one 6-1, 6-3 and Jackson Stewart and Griffin Wilcox beat Carter Zenner and Jones 6-2, 6-1 in flight three. In singles, Blake Anderson beat Hill in the numberone match 6-2, 6-1. Ryan Moskal beat Kollmansberger 6-4, 6-2 at number-two, Liam Zinn beat Thums 6-1, 6-1 at numberthree and Benito Widiker beat Preuss 6-4, 6-0 in flight four.

The Raiders faced Osceola for the second Saturday in a row and lost that dual meet 7-0. Medford’s lineup was entirely different than it was in a 5-2 loss to the Chieftains at Baldwin-Woodville April 5.

Andre Valbuena and Bradley Ramsey, who lost to Searles and Reimann the previous week, beat Hill and Searles this time at number-one singles 6-3, 6-2. Carter Marincel and Isaac Vad moved up to flight two and beat Brandner and Cole Zenner 6-3, 6-4 and Chase Klein and Wyatt Derosier took the number-three doubles match in a tiebreaker. They swept Preuss and Spanbauer in the first set 6-0, but Preuss and Spanbauer fought back, winning the second set 6-4. Osceola’s team outlasted Preuss and Spanbauer 10-8 in the tiebreaker to take the match.

In singles, Mason Jordan took the top match 6-3, 6-3 over Schulz. Kollmansberger pushed the first set to a tiebreak but Owen Henningsgard, who played at flight four the previous week, won the number-two match 7-6 (4), 6-3. Wyatt Larson defeated Thums 6-0, 6-1 and Chase Almlie, who Hill beat in flight two on April 5, won the number-four match 60, 6-0 over Jones.

East 4, Medford 3

On a cold, gray day for tennis Thursday, Medford got three singles wins, but the Raiders couldn’t find a win in any other flights and fell 4-3 in non-conference play at Wausau East.

Hill was dominant at number-two singles with a 6-1, 6-0 win over Julio Florres. Preuss took care of Yejoon Kim at number-three 6-2, 6-3 and Thums rolled over Ren Grunning in flight four 6-0, 6-1.

The flight-one match was close, but East’s Theodore Schlindwein beat Schulz 6-4, 6-3. The number-one doubles match was also tight, but East’s Elliot Harding and Carter Clements got past Reimann and Searles 6-4, 6-4. That was Medford’s first loss of the year in flight-one doubles.

Tim Hughes and Alexander Wunsch cruised past Brandner and Cole Zenner 60, 6-2 at number-two doubles and Matthais Clements and Ben Hoelter were 6-1, 7-5 winners over Kollmansberger and Spanbauer at number-three.

Cole Zenner