Damm, Klingbeil advance; Raiders finish 2nd in GNC

WIAA DIV. 2/GNC BOYS TENNIS

Two Medford Raiders remain in contention for WIAA Division 2 boys tennis sectional championships with one having a shot at an automatic berth to state.

Saskatoon Damm and Conner Klingbeil both went 2-0 at Monday’s WIAA Division 2 Lakeland subsectional to earn trips to the Eau Claire Regis sectional meet, which is being held today, Thursday, at the Menard YMCA Tennis Center.

For Damm, as a flight-two player, a 2-0 day today would send him to next weekend’s WIAA Division 2 individual state tournament in Madison. As a flight-three player, Klingbeil is not eligible for state, but he can earn an individual sectional championship by going 2-0.

Damm was the top seed in his bracket Monday and dominated like the top seed while improving to 14-1 for the year. He buried eighth-seeded Mason Lechner of Black River Falls 6-0, 6-1 and then took care of fourth-seeded Gage Kabasa of Ashland 6-1, 6-2 in round two to advance.

In Eau Claire today, Damm’s semifinal match is against Carson Hollman, a senior from Osceola who is 12-2 on the year. Damm and Hollman did not match against each other when Medford and Osceola faced each other early in the season. The sectional favorite is 19-1 Joe O’Flaherty of La Crosse Aquinas. He meets Regis sophomore Tony Wesner (12-5) in the other sectional semifinal. The winners will play for the sectional title and the state berth, while the losers will play for third.

Klingbeil was the second seed in Monday’s flight-three bracket and won his first match 6-2, 6-1 over seventh-seeded Owen Hanson of Black River Falls. That set up a second-round rematch with Antigo’s Michael Hagerty, who Klingbeil had just beaten four days earlier in the Great Northern Conference tournament. Klingbeil defeated Hagerty again Monday 6-2, 6-2.

Klingbeil’s sectional semifinal opponent is 13-6 Jaedan Silcox, a freshman from La Crosse Aquinas. Zach Laber, a 7-1 senior from Regis and Finnian Clark, a 7-3 sophomore from La Crosse Logan are in the other semifinal.

Unfortunately for Medford, the rest of their subsectional entrants did not get past their first match.

At number-one singles, third-seeded junior Brayden Balciar had his fourth match of the season with sixth-seeded Nolan Bunnell of Antigo and, after three competitive losses to Balciar, Bunnell finally got him in his fourth try 6-4, 6-2 to advance to the sectional. Balciar holds a 9-5 record in the number-one singles spot.

At number-four singles, senior Brett Lundy closed his two-year stint in the tennis program. Playing as the seventh seed, Altoona’s second-seeded freshman Isaiah Yi beat Lundy 6-3, 6-4. Yi lost his next match to Antigo’s Garrett Tomczyk.

Third-seeded Evan Seidling and Alessio Komro of Regis swept Medford’s sixth-seeded team of Mason Reimann and Parker Hill 6-0, 6-0 at number-one doubles. Fourth-seeded Stasz Kaszuba and Danny Kelley of Ashland beat Medford’s fifth-seeded team of Jude Stark and Cale Schulz 6-2, 7-6 (1) at number-two doubles. Ashland’s third-seeded team of Adrian Erickson and Ryan O’Bey downed Medford’s sixth-seeded freshman team of Keagan Gehrke and Oliver Swiantek 6-3, 6-0 in flight-three doubles.

Medford’s eight team points tied the Raiders with Antigo and Lakeland for third place behind Regis (24) and Altoona (16). Regis will battle Aquinas for the sectional team berth in today’s tournament. Aquinas also carries 24 points into the tournament after winning the subsectional it hosted on Monday.

The individual state tournament starts Thursday, June 1 at Nielsen Tennis Stadium on the UW-Madison campus.

Klingbeil is GNC champ

As expected, Medford had no trouble securing second place in the final Great Northern Conference standings during Thursday’s conference tournament at Lakeland.

Coming in with an 18-point lead over third-place Lakeland, the Raiders outscored the Thunderbirds 23-19 during the tournament to finish with 93 points for the season, well ahead of Lakeland’s 71. Stevens Point Pacelli and Antigo were tied with 26 points coming into the tournament, but Pacelli outscored the Red Robins 14-9 to claim fourth place.

Rhinelander scored 40 more points, winning championships in six of the seven flights, to finish with 142 points.

Klingbeil was the only flight champion who was not from Rhinelander. The junior was the top seed in the flightthree singles bracket and went 2-0 in the tournament to win the flight championship. He opened with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Antigo’s Michael Hagerty in the semifinal round to set up a title matchup with Rhinelander’s Gavin Denis, who had only lost one conference match during the season while playing in multiple singles and doubles flights.

Their match was about as tight as a tennis match can get. They went to a tiebreaker in the first set, which Klingbeil won 7-4 to win the set 7-6. They went to a tiebreaker again in the second set. This time, Denis won the tiebreak 7-3 to take that set 7-6 and send the match to a 10-point match tiebreaker. Klingbeil won that 10-8.

Balciar and Damm both reached the finals in their brackets.

Damm’s run at an undefeated regular season ended in his final pre-WIAA match, when he was knocked off 6-2, 6-4 by Rhinelander’s John Currie in the flight-two singles final. Currie was the one-seed, based on his 1-0 record in flight one and 5-0 record in flight two in GNC singles play during the dual meets. Damm, the second seed, beat Pacelli’s Bennett Eckendorf 6-0, 6-2 in the semifinal round and finished the regular season 12-1 in number-two singles matches.

Balciar received the top seed in the flight-one bracket. He fought off a good challenge from Bunnell in the semifinals, winning 6-4, 6-4 for his third win of the spring over Bunnell. But in the finals, Rhinelander’s Dalton Fritz, who had to fight off a 10-point match tiebreaker in the semifinals against Lakeland’s Dominic Gironella, had enough left in the tank to knock off Balciar in the final 6-4, 6-4 and earn the GNC’s Singles Player of the Year award. Balciar was 9-4 during the regular season in the top singles flight.

At number-four, Lundy drew the fourth seed, which meant a semifinal match with top-seeded Nick Lesch of Rhinelander, which Lesch won 6-1, 6-2. In the third-place match, Lakeland’s Angus Callender won a good battle with Lundy 7-5, 6-3.

Medford’s number-two doubles team of Stark and Schulz went 1-1 to place third and earn honorable mention. They dropped their semifinal to Pacelli’s Eli Robinson and Hunter Wrezinski, who won 6-1, 6-3. Schulz and Stark took the third-place match in a 10-point match tiebreaker 7-5, 2-6, 10-5 over Lakeland’s Isaac Olson and Jayson Wahlgren.

In flight-one doubles, Reimann and Hill were the fourth seed and that’s where they finished. Top-seeded Joey Belanger and Layne Roeser of Rhinelander beat them 6-0, 6-1 in the semifinals and Axle Jacobs and August Callender of Lakeland beat them 6-1, 6-2 in the third-place match. Belanger and Roeser repeated as the GNC’s Doubles Players of the Year, beating Pacelli’s Keagan Armstrong and Marcus Lansing 6-0, 6-1 in the flight-one championship.

In flight-three doubles, Medford’s third-seeded team of Gehrke and Swiantek went 0-2 and placed fourth. Lakeland’s Sawyer Brown and Gage Bowe beat them 7-5, 6-2 in the semifinals. They lost a lengthy third-place match to Pacelli’s Dominic Kroening and Josh Opaneye 3-6, 7-6 (4), 12-10.

Cale Schulz attacks a ball near the net during number-two doubles play at Thursday’s GNC tournament that was held at Lakeland. Schulz and Jude Stark defeated Lakeland’s Isaac Olson and Jayson Wahlgren 7-5, 2-6, 10-5 in the thirdplace match.BRETT LaBORE/THE LAKELAND TIMES

Brayden Balciar Second Team #1 Singles

Saskatoon Damm Second Team #2 Singles

Jude Stark Hon. Mention #2 Doubles

Cale Schulz Hon. Mention #2 Doubles