Raiders beaten by Pacelli after taking down Newman, 4-3

MEDFORD GIRLS TENNIS

The Medford Raiders got one set of Cardinals in Great Northern Conference girls tennis competition within the past week, but they weren’t able to bring down the second set in a pair of home dual meets.

Stevens Point Pacelli took a little wind out of Medford’s sails Tuesday, sweeping the doubles matches and adding two singles wins to secure a 5-2 win over the Raiders on a perfect day for tennis at the MASH courts.

The loss knocked Medford to 2-2 in league play, while Pacelli swung to 3-1 and took a 32-26 lead over the Raiders in the points race in the GNC standings. Medford is tied for fourth place with 1-2 Columbus Catholic with its 26 points. Those two teams square off today, Thursday, at 4:30 p.m. in Marshfield.

In a schedule change announced Wednesday, Medford will now travel to league-leading Lakeland (4-0, 42 points) for a 3:30 p.m. meet Friday rather than host D.C. Everest. Medford was originally scheduled to go to Lakeland on Sept. 15.

Senior Christine Czeshinski was a winner for the Raiders in Tuesday’s number-four singles match, downing Cabrini Brandl 6-3, 6-4 for her second conference win of the fall at that flight. Audrey Ruesch got her second league win at number-three singles, taking an injury default over Alaina Sbonik, who was leading a close first set 5-4 when she had to retire.

The number-three doubles match went to a third-set tiebreaker. Medford’s Chloe Werner and Kierstyn Halopka won the first set against Shannon Lepak and Lucy Gwidt 6-4, but the Pacelli team answered with a 6-4 win in set two and took the tiebreaker 10-6. Werner and Halolpka scored three straight points to go up 4-3, but the Pacelli team got the next three points to regain the lead and never let it go after that.

Julia Storch and Amelia Jaruby were 6-0, 6-1 winners over Medford’s Myah Smith and Masaeda Krug in flight-one doubles, while Anabelle Arnold and Julie Milbauer beat Raiders Eryka Seidl and Alyssa Brandner 6-2, 6-0 at number-two. Natalie Cooper swept Morgan Huegli 6-0, 6-0 at number-one singles and Lauren Loesl beat Makayla Motte at number-two 6-2, 6-0.

Medford’s next home appearance is now scheduled for Tuesday when the Antigo Red Robins are in for a 4:30 p.m. dual meet

Medford 4, Newman 3

On Thursday, Medford got what head coach Jake Bucki called “a huge win,” beating the Newman Catholic Cardinals 4-3 on the MASH courts.

The Raiders swept the doubles matches, which they’ve done at times with Newman over the years. But where they’ve struggled in the past has been getting a big singles win. They got it Thursday with Huegli’s 7-5, 6-4 win over Ava Sukanen in the flight-one match.

With both players working primarily from the baselines, keeping the ball in play and waiting for the other to make mistakes, this was a match of patience. Huegli avoided a first-set letdown after a 5-2 lead went to 5-5 and continued to play well in the second set.

“That girl was patient,” Bucki said. “That was a problem last year when Morgan played her twice late in the year. She went to a third-set break at conference and then she had her at subsectionals and lost in a full third set. That’s huge to get that match. That might decide the three seed in subsectional. That was a gigantic win for her.”

The number-one doubles team of Smith and Krug got the key points they needed in a competitive match with Newman’s Destiny Lo and Molly Merrill. The Raiders won the first set 6-4 and then went the distance and then some in the second set, taking the tiebreaker 12-10 to win the set 7-6.

“For those two to pull it off in straight sets was good,” Bucki said. “They started taking over the net a little bit like they both should.”

Brandner and Seidl struggled early with unforced errors in their numbertwo match with Ada Stenstrom and Naomi Stenstrom, but they figured things out in the second set and rolled from there in a 1-6, 6-3, 6-2 win.

“Those two are starting to click a little bit,” Bucki said.

Werner and Halopka controlled the number-three match with Fiona MacCarthy and Addison Puent 6-2, 6-3.

In singles, Motte played some of her best tennis of the year early on, but she couldn’t sustain it as Natalie Townsend won the number-two match 6-4, 6-0. The Cardinals have a good number-three player in Reagan Herdich, who rolled by Ruesch 6-0, 6-1. Addie Schmidt outlasted Czeshinski, who got better as the number- four match went on. The final was

6-2, 7-5.

At Altoona

Medford dropped a pair of dual meets Aug. 31 at Altoona, helping to make up for some of the tennis lost in the rainedout second day of the Altoona Invitational the previous weekend.

Osceola downed the Raiders 5-2 in one of those duals. The Raiders got a numbertwo doubles win from Seidl and Brandner, who had quite a battle with the Chieftains’ Olivia See and Brooke Mc-Donald. The first set went to a tiebreaker, which Osceola won 7-4 to take the set 7-6. Medford’s team took charge in the second set with a 6-1 win and took the thirdset tiebreaker 10-4 to win the match.

All of the doubles matches went to the third-set tiebreaker. In flight one, Shaw Styles and Mazie Gillespie took the first set over Smith and Krug 6-3, but the Raiders answered by taking the second set, also by a score of 6-3. Styles and Gillespie won the race to 10 in the third set 10-7.

The number-three match was close too. Halopka and Werner took the first set against Adason Gault and Marlee Gibson 6-2 and took the second set to a tiebreaker, but they couldn’t quite finish the job. Gault and Gibson won it 7-6 (1) and then won the third-set tiebreaker 10-7 to take the match.

In singles play, Ruesch was a 7-6 (3), 6-3 winner over Grace Gilhousen in the number-three match. Sophia LaVigne beat Huegli 6-1, 6-4 in flight one, Emma Stroshane beat Motte 6-0, 6-1 in flight two and Autumn Guckenberger was a 6-0, 6-3 in flight four over Czeshinski.

The host Railroaders earned their second 6-1 win of the season over Medford in the day’s other dual.

Seidl and Brandner were Medford’s winners, defeating Jackie Halverson and Maddie Gagnon at number-two doubles 6-1, 6-4.

Ruesch took the number-three singles match to a third-set tiebreaker, but Altoona’s Sofia Bach was just a little too much, winning the match 4-6, 6-2, 10-5.

Everything else was decided in straight sets. Ava Bremer beat Huegli 6-0, 6-0, Xeng Her beat Motte 6-1, 6-1 and Sheyenne Her downed Czeshinski 6-2, 6-1 in singles play. Altoona’s outstanding doubles team of Bella Bauer and Josie Rondestvedt beat Smith and Krug 6-1, 6-0 and Ava Gunderson and Bailey Bruyere beat Halopka and Madison Clarkson at number-three doubles 6-0, 6-2.