Ruesch and two doubles teams advance to sectional meet

WIAA DIV. 2 GIRLS TENNIS

Five Medford Raiders extended their seasons by two days by qualifying for sectional competition during Tuesday’s WIAA Division 2 Altoona girls tennis subsectional.

The number-two doubles team of Eryka Seidl and Alyssa Brandner went 2-0 to punch their ticket to the sectional meet, which is being hosted today, Thursday, in Eau Claire by the Regis-McDonell co-op. In flight two, Seidl and Brander are still in state-qualifying contention. They’ll have to win two matches today and win the flight championship to do it.

The number-three doubles team is not eligible for state but Chloe Werner and Madison Clarkson can win a sectional championship with two victories today. They went 2-0 at the subsectional.

At number-three singles, Audrey Ruesch went 2-0, including a big upset win over the flight’s number-one seed to keep her strong run at season’s end going. She also is not eligible for state but can win a sectional championship.

As a team, Medford tied for fourth place at the subsectional level by scoring 12 points.

Seidl and Brandner, both seniors, drew the second seed out of eight teams in the flight-two doubles bracket. They took care of business in the quarterfinal round, sweeping seventh-seeded Megan DeLeasky and Ivy Schlub of Phillips 6-1, 6-1. In the semifinals, with a sectional spot on the line, the Raiders dominated their match with Karah Nelson and Ava Smith of Regis-McDonell 6-2, 6-1, winning by the exact same score they did against Nelson and Smith in a non-conference dual meet on Sept. 20.

In sectional play today, Seidl and Brandner (12-7) will face Rice Lake’s Kendra Richter and Emily Scheu (11-3) in one semifinal, while Altoona’s Sofia Bach and Katelyn Beltz (20-5) will play Osceola’s Brooke McDonald and Olivia See in the other. Winners will play for the championship and the state berth, while the losers will play for third place. Medford’s team beat the Osceola duo in three sets on Aug. 31 and did not play the other teams during the season.

Werner, a senior, and Clarkson, a junior, continue to work well together since joining forces at mid-season. They improved to 9-2 Tuesday. Seeded second in the subsectional bracket, they cruised past seventh-seeded Carli Foytik and Saige Stein of Phillips 6-1, 6-0 in the quarterfinal round and then won a competitive match over third-seeded Naomi Stenstrom and Addison Puent of Newman Catholic 6-4, 6-3. It was their second win over the Phillips team in five days.

Werner and Clarkson will face Rice Lake’s Alyssa Stanford and Halle Husak (11-7) in today’s sectional semifinal match, while Altoona’s Ryanna Hesselink and Keyliana Desantis (13-3) and Baldwin-Woodville’s Kennedy Wang and Hailey Schodeberg (9-3) will square off in the other semifinal.

Ruesch was the fifth seed in the number-three singles bracket, but the sophomore didn’t let that stop her from advancing.

First, she beat a familiar foe in Great Northern Conference rival Lizzy Gruenloh of Columbus Catholic, who was seeded fourth. Gruenloh won the first set in a tiebreaker 7-6 (6), but Ruesch came back with a 6-2 win in the second set and then took the third-set tiebreaker 10-7 to advance to a second-round match with top-seeded Xeng Her of Altoona.

Ruesch won a tough first set 7-5, but Her evened things up in the second set 6-1. Again, the match went to a third-set tiebreaker. Her had match point at 9-4 and Ruesch, incredibly, rattled off seven straight points to win it 11-9 and take the match.

Medford head coach Jake Bucki noted that in her two subsectional wins and two wins at Thursday’s GNC meet, Ruesch beat four opponents she had lost to in straight sets earlier in the season. She won all four of them in third-set, 10-point tiebreakers.

In today’s sectional bracket, Ruesch (13-10) will meet Amery’s Annie Zinn (127) and Rice Lake’s Ayla Zuzek (9-6) faces Ashley Chilson of Regis-McDonell in the semifinals. Again, winners will meet for first place and losers will play for third.

Season ends

For the rest of Medford’s varsity line- up, the 2022 season came to an end Tuesday with first-round losses.

In singles, senior Morgan Huegli was the fifth seed in flight one and was defeated 7-5, 6-2 by fourth-seeded Natalie Townsend of Newman Catholic. Huegli finished 8-9 in number-one matches this fall and 10-9 overall.

Senior Makayla Motte was the fifth seed in flight two and was defeated by fourth-seeded Josie Rechek of Altoona 6-0, 6-0.

In flight four, fifth-seeded Christine Czeshinski rebounded from a 6-0 loss in the first set to fourth-seeded Maggie Callaghan of Columbus Catholic and won the second set 6-2 to force a third-set tiebeaker. Callaghan won it 10-4 to advance one more round. It was Callaghan’s third close win over Czeshinski this season and second in five days.

At number-one doubles, fifth-seeded Myah Smith and Masaeda Krug needed just one win to advance and took their first set with Newman Catholic’s Ava Sukanen and Molly Merrill 6-4, but the Cardinals’ team came back with 6-3, 6-2 wins to qualify for the sectional.

Smith, a senior, and Krug, a junior, finished 4-12 together.

Altoona posted the subsectional’s highest team score with 22 points, finishing ahead of Regis-McDonell (16), Newman Catholic (14), Medford and Columbus Catholic (12) and Antigo, Phillips and Ashland, who did not score.

Baldwin-Woodville and Osceola both scored 18 points to share first place at the Baldwin-Woodville subsectional Monday, while Rice Lake was third with 16 points. The team with the highest combined point total after subsectional and sectional play will advance to the WIAA Division 2 state team tournament on Oct. 22. The individual state meet starts on Thursday, Oct. 13.

Medford’s Madison Clarkson lines up a backhand return during number-three doubles play at Thursday’s GNC tournament. Clarkson and Chloe Werner lost to Rhinelander’s Evelyn Sawyer and Brooke Sisel in this third-place match. They won two matches Tuesday to advance to today’s WIAA Division 2 sectional meet.

Chloe Werner

Eryka Seidl

Alyssa Brandner