Tennis team nets two GNC wins; Damm gets meaningful DCE win

MEDFORD TENNIS

The Medford Raiders didn’t win their last home meet of the 2023 boys tennis season Tuesday, but individually, they did get one memorable victory.

Saskatoon Damm was Medford’s lone winner in a 6-1 non-conference loss to D.C. Everest, beating Ted Kitchell in a marathon three-set match that took two hours and 45 minutes to play. The two had met last year with Kitchell winning 6-3, 6-2, but Damm said that loss stuck with him and he was excited to get another chance at Kitchell, who came into the match with one loss this season.

Damm stayed unbeaten for the year in number-two singles matches at 11-0 with his 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 win.

“That was my longest match,” the Medford senior said. “He has an opposite playing style from me. He prefers to strike the ball hard and go for winner whereas I just try to keep it in play. So I lost the first set 4-6. I was down 1-5 and got three games at the end. I took that into the second, ended up winning that 6-4. At that point I had gotten him to play my game instead of his game. He was hitting it softer rather than harder. Then I was just trying to outlast him.”

Damm said it was becoming evident he was outlasting Kitchell in between sets two and three.

“At the beginning of the meet during lineups, it was established that we were going to do the full third set because sometimes you only do a 10-point tiebreaker,” Damm said. “After the second set and we split 1-1, we were talking by the scorecard and he said, I think that they would make an exception given how long this match has been and let us do a 10-point. I told I’m ready to go the distance.”

While the Raiders didn’t win another match, head coach Kyle Ranum said the Raiders did well against the Division 1 Evergreen, sending three matches to third sets.

“I’m really happy with our singles play,” he said. “In doubles we got overmatched a bit. We’re young there. Our singles play was good.”

In flight three, Medford’s Conner Klingbeil came back after losing the first set and took set two 6-2 before Calvin Gasail won the third set 6-3. In flight four, Brett Lundy took the first set against Everest’s Ethan Giese, but Giese took the next two sets 6-3, 6-2. Colin Belton beat Medford’s ace Brayden Balciar 6-1, 6-0 in the number-one match.

A day after winning the number-two match at Lakeland, Medford’s Jude Stark and Cale Schulz moved up to the numberone doubles spot, where Everest’s Gavin Burress and former Raider Adam Swedlund were 6-0, 6-1 winners. Ben Winkels and Ethan Hochberger beat Medford’s Mason Reimann and Parker Hill 6-3, 6-1 at number-two and Cooper Engen and Max Hoffman were 6-1, 6-0 winners over Medford’s Keagan Gehrke and Cole Zenner.

Medford finished the year 8-6 overall in dual meets.

The regular season ends today, Thursday, with the Great Northern Conference championship tournament at Lakeland. Medford is pretty much locked into second place teamwise, barring something extraordinary happening today. The Raiders are 18 points ahead of third-place Lakeland and 32 points behind Rhinelander. The suspense of the tournament will be determining who gets what individual awards.

Medford will head back to Lakeland Monday for the WIAA Division 2 subsectional meet where flight-one semifinalists and finalists in all other flights will qualify for the May 25 Eau Claire Regis sectional. There, the top team, flight-one semifinalists and flight-two champions will automatically qualify for state competition.

The subsectional features GNC teams Medford, Lakeland, Antigo and Stevens Point Pacelli as well as Altoona, Ashland, Regis and Black River Falls. The meet starts at 9 a.m.

Medford 4, Lakeland 3

Medford finished 6-2 in Great Northern Conference duals with a 4-3 win at Lakeland Monday, completing a season sweep of the Thunderbirds.

The Raiders got wins from their top three singles players and added a key win from the number-two doubles team of Schulz and Stark to get the team victory.

This was Stark’s first match in a month due to injury. He and Schulz went to a first-set tiebreaker with Isaac Olson and Jayson Wahlgren and won it 8-6 to take the set 7-6. The hard-fought match continued into the second set where Schulz and Stark won 6-4.

Damm remained undefeated in number- two singles matches by easily taking care of Carson Tegland 6-1, 6-0 and Balciar beat Lakeland’s solid number-one, Dominic Gironella, 6-3, 6-4 for his second win over Gironella this spring. Klingbeil got a good test from Jack Stepec in flight three and prevailed 6-3, 7-5. Angus Callender outlasted Lundy in a good flightfour match 6-4, 1-6, 10-8.

Lakeland’s Axle Jacobs and August Callendar beat Reimann and Hill 6-0, 6-2 in flight-one doubles and Sawyer Brown and Gage Bowe won the flight-three match against Oliver Swiantek and Gehrke in an excellent three-set match that went the distance and beyond 6-2, 6-7 (7), 11-9.

Medford 6, Pacelli 1

Two good doubles matches highlighted Medford’s 6-1 win over Stevens Point Pacelli Thursday on the MASH courts.

With Pacelli forfeiting two singles matches, Ranum paired Klingbeil, the usual number-three singles player, with Lundy in the flight-one doubles match and the result was an impressive victory over one of the GNC’s top teams.

Klingbeil and Lundy lost the first set 6-4 to Pacelli’s Marcus Lansing and Keagen Austreng, but they hung in and battled to 6-4, 6-4 wins in the next two sets to take the match. Klingbeil and Lundy played together last year and, in fact, lost 10-6 in the third set to Lansing and Austreng in the WIAA Division 2 subsectional meet.

The Raiders were a game away from completing a 7-0 sweep, but Pacelli’s Eli Robinson and Hunter Wrezinski won the last three games in the third set to turn a 5-4 deficit into a 7-5 win and a match victory over Reimann and Hill. Pacelli’s team dominated the first set 6-1, but Hill and Reimann regrouped and took the second set 6-4 and after falling behind early in the third set, surged to the lead before the Cardinals rallied at the end.

Robinson and Wrezinski beat Reimann and Schulz in three sets when Medford played at Pacelli on April 25.

Schulz and Gavyn Dellich were 6-0, 6-3 winners in flight three over Pacelli’s Dominic Kroening and Josh Opaneye. This was Dellich’s first varsity appearance.

Balciar cruised to a 6-1, 6-0 win over Ben Westrick and Damm crushed Evan Pekarek 6-0, 6-0 in the top two singles flights. Swiantek and Gehrke won by forfeit in flights three and four.

Parker Hill pushes a return over the net during Thursday’s number-two doubles match with Stevens Point Pacelli.MATT FREY/THE STAR NEWS