MEDFORD GIRLS TENNIS PREVIEW - It’s not a rebuild, it’s a reload for girls tennis team

Most of the names on the varsity lineup sheet will be different than last year for Medford’s girls tennis team, but the Raiders expect no drop off in quality on the court this fall.

In fact, the expectations at the start of the new season are quite high.

While there will be some shifting and experimenting as always, 11th-year head coach Jake Bucki goes into this year fairly certain who the 10 varsity players will be, which is a rarity, especially since those players don’t possess a ton of varsity experience.

It’s a group the coaches got excited about watching at the JV level last year. And now, it’s their time to shine.

“I think when other coaches look at last year’s record and our roster, they’re going to think it’s a rebuild year and it’s not at all,” Bucki said after the team completed its Tuesday morning practice on the MASH courts. “It really isn’t. That’s a great feeling. We kinda knew that all of last year because our top JV players sailed through the year. Basically their only competitive matches were against each other.”

Unfortunately, the Raiders had to wait an extra five days to get the 2025 season started as Saturday’s rain postponed a quad scheduled to be played in Amery to Sept. 5. Now their opener is today, Thursday, at Merrill, the brand new addition to the Great Northern Conference. The home opener follows Friday, a non-conference meet with Ellsworth that has had its start time moved up to 11 a.m.

“Those meets are nice because before you get into the big conference matches, you have that starter and you play against teams where it doesn’t really matter as much,” senior Bayley Metz said of the first-meet postponement. “I mean it matters, but it’s less stress and you get that bandage ripped off.”

Senior Chloe Kapitz agreed.

“In doubles we get to play with different people each match to learn who you play better with,” she said.

While the first-meet jitters won’t get taken care of until today, Bucki feels the team is more than ready to challenge the leaders in the Great Northern Conference. Medford finished fourth last year in the standings with 71 points, seven more than a usually-strong Rhinelander team. Lakeland is the defending champion but lost nearly its entire varsity lineup to graduation.

Senior Makenna Tlusty leads the team with two years of varsity experience. The majority of her time as a sophomore came in doubles. Last year, she spent most of her time in the number-three singles spot, but also got matches in flights two and four and won 18 matches overall.

Metz and Kapitz entered the scene last year in doubles. For a time they played together in flight three.

Metz finished with the now graduated Lily Holmes and they went 8-5 together.

Tallula Hahn got some number-four singles time and went 4-1. Hahn, a senior, is slated to start the season today in the number-one spot. Tlusty could be a top singles player too, but Bucki said he’s inclined to pair her with Metz in the top doubles spot. That moves junior Kadence Weix up to number-two singles.

“I knew we were going to have a pretty good one and a really good two with (Hahn and Tlusty) in the singles lineup,” Bucki said. “I wouldn’t say either is a dominant number-one, but they’re going to beat quite a few girls.

“But if I move McKenna to one-doubles, that really strengthens the one-doubles team because Bayley is a good one-doubles player.”

Bucki is excited to see how Hahn and Weix fare atop the singles lineup.

“One and two are going to be competitive against anybody,” he said. “Tallula has such an unorthodox style of play that it’s going to frustrate people. There are going to be some really good players that I see her upsetting if they’re not good at making adjustments.

“Kadi will develop into a number-one,” Bucki added. “She has the ground strokes. She’s starting to develop an all-court game now which we really put an emphasis on with all of our singles players, being able to hit mid-court volleys and everything.”

Senior Caidyn Zenner will likely fill the number-three singles spot and junior Raylin Rothmeier holds down the four-spot.

“Caidyn and Raylin are so close to each other,” Bucki said. “Caidyn was probably our top JV player last year and then she went down with a foot injury for most of the season. She’s picked up right where she left off. She’s really consistent and now she’s willing to come to the net. Raylin is just an athlete. Last year she probably could have come into one of the varsity doubles spots. She still could go either way, singles or doubles. It will be good to get her some singles experience one way or the other.”

Kapitz is likely to be teamed with junior Ellie Eckert in the number-two doubles slot in most meets.

“We really have two number-one doubles teams,” Bucki said. “Chloe and Ellie just beat McKenna and Bayley (in practice). We really have two number-one teams and a good number-two team.”

The good number-two team he referred to is actually the number-three team of sophomore Averie Werner and senior Uliah Etsitty.

“Averie brings a lot of athleticism,” Bucki said. “Both have put in a lot of time on the courts this summer. Uliah had never really played doubles before, she’s played singles. I talked to her earlier this summer about volleying and she listened. Now she has some of the best volleys on the team. You have that consistency with her and then Averie is a good athlete and she’s aggressive.”

Senior Autumn Cooley is also working with the varsity with the potential to fill a spot when needed. Another senior, Carli Kostner, unfortunately is out for the year with an injury.

One of the best characteristics of the team, according to Bucki and the players, is its competitive drive, which has played out in practice in the first week.

“They’re pushing each other, which is perfect,” Bucki said. “That’s what I want.”

“It’s competitive just because we’re all like that,” Hahn said.

“It’s kind of stressful (competing with each other),” Metz said. “You’re playing against your friends, so you don’t want to be mad at them. I feel like it’s harder to play against people you’re friends with because when you’re losing, you’re upset and then you get in your head about it more I think.”

While things can get competitive, the girls said the overall vibe on the courts is really good.

“Everyone gets along, it’s been drama free,” Kapitz said. “I really like this team this year.”

“Our leadership this year is top notch,” Bucki said. “There are certain years where I appoint captains because it’s necessary. Then there are certain years where I know the majority of team is going to act like captains, so I kind of let that naturally flow. This year that’s exactly what we have. They get along, they push each other. They’re building each other up.”

Where will it all lead? In the conference, Newman Catholic could be the early favorite since the Cardinals are coming off a WIAA Division 2 team state appearance and bring back a handful of those players. The Raiders like their chances to leapfrog past Lakeland and Stevens Point Pacelli, who finished first and third in last year’s standings.

Post-season success from a team aspect could be interesting as Medford is back in Division 2 after two seasons stuck in Division 1 against the area’s giants. Bucki sees the Division 2 subsectional and sectional groupings featuring a handful of good teams but there may not be a powerhouse this year.

“We’ve been talking as a team about some of the goals and I’ve talked to them about how I’m always realistic with the team,” Bucki said. “The last two years we didn’t talk about team state. There was no chance. This year, there’s no dominant team. We’ve talked about that as a possibility this year. That’s the ultimate outcome goal –– team state.”

“We all have big goals for ourselves,” Hahn said. “The way (Bucki) talks about everyone, he’s really confident.”

“We can tell he’s really looking forward to this year,” Metz said. If he sees it, it must mean there really is something there.”