GNC GIRLS TENNIS TOURNAMENT - #2 doubles wins title; team winds up in third-place tie

The quest for a first-ever team championship in Great Northern Conference girls tennis came up short, but the Medford Raiders did reach the championship match in three flights at Thursday’s conference tournament held in Rhinelander.

Medford’s team of Chloe Kapitz and Ellie Eckert completed a perfect season of conference play in flight-two doubles. They won three more matches to win the bracket and go 11-0 in their league matches. They are 18-1 together in the flight and 2-2 overall.

Seniors Makenna Tlusty and Bayley Metz got to the flight-one doubles title match where they were beaten by 2024 WIAA Division 2 state qualifiers and defending GNC champions Evelyn Herdrich and Molly Merrill of Newman Catholic. Junior Raylin Rothmeier got to the flight-four singles final, where she was defeated by Newman senior Addison Puent in straight sets.

As a team, Medford scored 18 points in the meet, good for a third-place tie with Rhinelander. The two teams started the day tied atop the conference with 86 points compiled in their eight dual meets. But Newman Catholic, with a handful of players back from its sectional championship team of a year ago, completed a late-season charge to the title by earning 28 points Thursday to finish with 112 for the season. Stevens Point Pacelli was four points behind the Raiders and Hodags to start the day. The Cardinals earned 25 points in the tournament to finish with 107 and claim second place in the final standings.

Kapitz, a senior, and Eckert, a junior, earned the top seed in the flight-two bracket and started their day with a 6-0, 6-0 sweep of eighth-seeded Monica Thill and Hannah Loucks of Columbus Catholic. In the semifinals, Kapitz and Eckert handled fifth-seeded Ella Tess and Hailey Zvara of Pacelli 6-2, 6-3 to earn a spot in the finals against Rhinelander’s second-seeded Willow VanDenHeuvel and Eva Heck. The Raiders took care of the Hodags 6-2, 6-3 to clinch their spots on the All-GNC first team.

In flight one, Metz and Tlusty drew the third seed after posting a 6-2 record in GNC duals. They had no trouble with sixth-seeded Matty Ratliff and Faith Casetta of Antigo in the quarterfinals, winning 6-0, 6-1. They got a big win in the semifinals, upsetting second-seeded Maddy Pionk and Vivian Berna in a 10point match tiebreaker 6-2, 2-6, 10-6. Pacelli’s team had just beaten Tlusty and Metz in a tiebreaker one week earlier.

That gave the Medford duo a shot at the title but Herdrich and Merrill were just too tough, winning 6-2, 6-2 to claim GNC Doubles Players of the Year honors for the second straight fall.

Tlusty and Metz ended the regular season with a 16-4 record together. They and the Kapitz/Eckert team will enter the postseason as contenders to earn trips to the WIAA state tournament.

Rothmeier also opened as the third seed at flight-four singles after going 6-2 in the GNC dual meets. She breezed in her opener 6-1, 60 over Columbus Catholic’s Norah Alcott. In the semifinals, Rothmeier avenged a Sept. 4 loss to Rhinelander freshman Lucy Evers and rallied from a set down to do it. Evers won the first set 6-4, but Rothmeier took the second set 6-4 to force a tiebreaker, which she won 10-5 to advance to the final, where the top-seeded Puent won 6-2, 6-2.

Rothmeier is 11-3 in the flight and 11-4 overall in singles play this fall.

Medford picked up two more wins during Thursday’s tournament.

In flight-two singles, junior Kady Weix earned the third seed but got a major test in her quarterfinal match with Merrill’s sixth-seeded Greta Peterson, who Weix had swept in the season’s first meet back on Aug. 21.

This time, Weix survived the first set 75, then Peterson tied it with a 6-2 win. The tiebreaker went the distance and beyond before Weix finally prevailed 13-11.

That set up a semifinal rematch with second-seeded Reese Abel of Pacelli. Abel beat Weix for the second time in a week 63, 6-0. In the third-place match, Weix was upended by fourth-seeded Maelle Lamers of Lakeland in a closely-contested match 6-4, 7-6. Lamers won the second-set tiebreaker 8-6. Weix finished the regular season at 12-12.

At number-three doubles, senior Uliah Etsitty and sophomore Averie Werner began the tournament as the two-seed after 6-1 GNC dual-meet record. They cruised past seventh-seeded Lucie Turajski and Melody Pepke of Newman 60, 6-0 in the quarterfinals. But in the semifinals, they were knocked off by Pacelli’s third-seeded Abby Johnson and Haylee Cisewski in a match that went to a tiebreaker. The Cardinals won the first set 6-3. Etsitty and Werner won the second 64. Pacelli’s team took the tiebreaker 10-7.

In the third-place match, the Raiders went to another match tiebreaker and fell just short. Lakeland’s fourth-seeded team of Ellie Glisczinski and Carman Istudor won the first set 6-4. Werner and Etsitty took the second 7-5. The T-Birds then outlasted Medford’s team 12-10 in the tiebreaker.

Werner and Etsitty are 9-4 together in flight-three play this year.

Medford senior Tallula Hahn drew the three-seed at number-one singles after going 5-3 in the duals. She was knocked off, however, in the quarterfinals by sixthseeded Annie Vander Galien of Rhinelander. For the second time this season, those two went to a match tiebreaker, both won by Vander Galien. She took Thursday’s match 4-6, 6-4, 11-9. Hahn goes into the post-season with a 1012 record.

In flight three singles, Medford senior Caidyn Zenner drew the fourth seed after going 6-2 in the duals. She was knocked off in the quarterfinals by fifth-seeded Katy Janowiec of Lakeland in very close straight-set match 7-6 (8), 7-5. Janowiec got even with Zenner, who beat her 7-6 (5), 6-1 back on Aug. 28. Zenner is 12-5 overall in singles play this season.

Lakeland scored 13 points in the tournament and finished fifth in the final standings with 73 points. Merrill scored three points Thursday and finished with 57 overall. Antigo (36), Columbus Catholic (10) and Phillips (6) did not score in the tournament and finished seventh, eighth and ninth overall.

Post-season is here

The calendar has flipped to October, which brings the arrival of the WIAA tennis post-season.

After two years in Division 1, Medford is happily back in Division 2 this season and will start the post-season trail Tuesday at the Altoona subsectional with the host Railroaders, Antigo, Ashland, Lakeland, Newman Catholic, Phillips and Regis-McDonell. Play begins at 9 a.m. at the Menard Tennis Center in Eau Claire.

Flight-one semifinalists and finalists in all other flights will head back to Eau Claire on Oct. 9 for the sectional meet, also hosted by Altoona. There the subsectional qualifiers will meet qualifiers from the Amery sectional. Flight-one semifinalists, flight-two champions and the top scoring team will advance to state competition.

The individual state tournament is Oct. 16-18 and the team state tournament is Saturday, Oct. 25 at Nielsen Tennis Stadium in Madison.