Raiders ice the T-Birds, get key wins to beat Oredockers

MEDFORD BOYS TENNIS

There will be a cold tennis meet every spring and there will be a windy meet each spring. Rarely do those two elements combine like they did Monday for the Medford Raiders and Lakeland Thunderbirds.

Despite north winds gusting into the 30 mph range and creating wind chills in the upper 20s, the meet went on for those teams on the MASH courts in what was supposed to be the first of back-to-back Great Northern Conference matchups between the teams.

Medford won 5-2 to improve to 3-0 in league play and stay on Rhinelander’s heels in the GNC title chase before the teams meet Tuesday in a GNC doubleheader at 1 p.m. Tuesday’s meet at Lakeland was postponed with the Mincoqua area still needing snow to melt from the weekend and was rescheduled for Monday, May 15.

Some absences forced Medford to reshuffle the lineup a bit on Monday, but two three-set victories allowed the Raiders to pull out the team win.

One of those came at number-one singles where Medford’s Brayden Balciar and Lakeland’s Dominic Gironella locked horns in a good one. Both players showed some outstanding shot making in the wind and there were several points played out with volleys at the net. Balciar controlled the first set 6-2, but Gironella got early momentum in the second set and won 6-2. Balciar took the match with a big 6-4 win in the third set to remain unbeaten early in the year at 5-0.

Saskatoon Damm also went to 5-0 at number-two singles with a 6-3, 6-3 win over Carson Tegland and Connor Klingbeil was a straight-set winner in flight three over Lakeland’s Jack Stepec 6-3, 6-1.

The other match to go the distance was at number-two doubles. Sophomore Mason Reimann and freshman Parker Hill moved up to fill that flight Monday and, after losing the first set 7-5 to Isaac Olson and Jayson Wahlgren, they settled into a groove and dominated the rest of the way 6-1, 6-2. Medford’s number-one team of Dante Axon and Brett Lundy got better as their match went on and took down Lakeland’s Axle Jacobs and August Callendar 6-4, 6-1.

The number-three doubles match also went well into the cold evening. Lakeland’s Sawyer Brown and Gage Bowe bounced back from a first-set loss to defeat Medford freshmen Oliver Swiantek and Cole Zenner, who were playing their first varsity match together, 2-6, 6-4, 6-4.

Angus Callender beat Medford’s Keagan Gehrke at number-four singles 6-2, 6-3.

Rhinelander and Medford both are 3-0 in GNC duals with the Hodags holding a 38-34 lead in points. Medford will try to keep pace in GNC matches at home against Antigo today, Thursday, and against Stevens Point Pacelli on Monday. In between, the Raiders are heading to the Altoona Quad on Friday, which includes Lakeland and Ashland.

Medford has a non-conference dual meet at Eau Claire Regis on May 11.

Medford 4, Ashland 3

The biggest wins came from the players in the bottom flights in the lineup Friday in Medford’s 4-3 non-conference win over the Ashland Oreockers.

In their 2023 home opener, the meet’s outcome came down the number-three doubles and number-four singles matches.

In the doubles match, Reimann and Hill let a close first set get away 7-5, but they regrouped and played well the rest of the way, winning the final two sets 6-4, 6-3 to take the match.

In the flight-four singles match, Gehrke closed things out with a 6-1, 6-1 win to seal the deal in his first varsity match.

“He’s a freshman in his first match and for him to win that is big,” head coach Kyle Ranum said after the meet.

Balciar won his flight-one singles match with Harry Diesberg 6-1, 6-2 and Damm won his match handily 6-0, 6-1. Klingbeil fell victim to a big momentum swing in his number-three match. After taking the first 6-0, he dropped the second set 6-2 and lost a close third set 6-4.

Axon and Lundy lost a close match to Ashland’s Austin Vyskocil and Bodee Mikkonen, who Ranum said is a statecaliber team. Cale Schulz and Jude Stark won their number-two match 7-5, 6-3.

Brett Lundy pushes this backhand volley over the net as he and Dante Axon win the point in number-one doubles play against Lakeland’s Axle Jacobs and August Callendar Monday afternoon.MATT FREY/THE STAR NEWS