MEDFORD BOYS TENNIS A SURPRISE GNC CONTENDER - Raiders emerging as top threat to Hodags

MEDFORD BOYS TENNIS

A SURPRISE GNC CONTENDER

There is still one major obstacle standing in the way of Medford’s boys tennis team going unbeaten in the dualmeet portion of the Great Northern Conference season, but the Raiders will take being one win away from doing so.

The Raiders went to 3-0 in league play Tuesday, taking care of short-handed Ashland 6-1 on the MASH courts. The Oredockers brought just six players, forfeiting the number-two and numberthree doubles matches.

Still, Medford won four of the five contested matches and, even in the one the Raiders lost, Cale Schulz put up a strong fight in flight-one singles, falling in the 10-point match tiebreaker to Ashland’s Adrian Erickson 10-8.

Schulz lost the first set 6-2, but came back with a vengeance in set two, seemingly hitting everything where he wanted to and flustering Erickson in a 60 shutout.

Schulz lost his touch temporarily in the tiebreaker, falling behind 8-1 while hitting several shots too long. But he battled back with five straight points, the last of which was earned at the end of a good rally. The two then traded points until Erickson finally clinched the twopoint margin of victory.

“The outcome of that match is to me irrelevant,” Medford head coach Kyle Ranum said. “The way Cale played in that second set was the best tennis of his whole year. That kid is a really highquality opponent and Cale thoroughly outplayed him in that second set. To me, that showed he can play with anybody. We just have to put consecutive sets like that together. That’s the hard part. When you’re playing flight one. It’s hard to put that level of tennis together against those quality opponents.”

The number-three singles match also went to a tiebreaker. There, Medford’s Ethan Kollmansberger dropped the first set to Ashland’s Lucas Oliphant 6-4. But he righted the ship with a 6-2 win in the second set to force the tiebreaker. He jumped ahead 8-1 and held off a late surge by Oliphant 10-5 to take the match.

“With Ethan’s match, I’m proud of him,” Ranum said. “He got down on himself in the first set. But then he played like he should in the second set and the tiebreak.”

Christian Preuss got better as his number-four singles match progressed. The sophomore beat Lincoln Lemieux 6-4, 6-3. In flight two, Parker Hill had little trouble with Ryan Obey in a 6-0, 6-1 win.

In the only contested doubles match, Medford’s Mason Reimann and Blaine Searles shut out Ashland’s Wyatt Granados and Nate Kostac 6-0, 6-0. Jaeden Brandner and Cole Zenner took the forfeit in flight two and Cash Thums and Axl Spanbauer got credit for the flight-three win.

With 32 points, Medford currently holds the GNC lead, though Rhinelander still has two dual meets to play, one against an undermanned Pacelli squad.

The Raiders and Hodags are scheduled to meet in Rhinelander on May 13 and Ranum is curious to see how Medford, now 5-8 overall, will match up with the perennial GNC contenders.

“We’re looking good,” Ranum said. “I think it’s going to be down to us and Rhinelander and I think that we can compete with their singles. If we can win the head-tohead we might have a chance to win the conference with a bunch of new players and only two seniors. I didn’t see that coming.”

Before then, Medford will get in more work against non-conference foes. Today, Thursday, the Raiders will visit the always-tough Eau Claire Regis Ramblers for a 4 p.m. meet. They are also currently scheduled to play in Baldwin-Woodville Saturday in what is supposed to be a quad event that includes Ashland.

Medford will head to Black River Falls on May 9. “Regis will be tough,” Ranum said. “I think we can win a couple flights there. I don’t know if we have the depth to win the dual. But it will be good for us heading into the post-season to play a quality opponent like that.”

Medford 6, Pacelli 1

On Thursday, Medford faced a short-handed Stevens Point Pacelli squad and was credited with a 6-1 Great Northern Conference win in its first home meet of 2025.

Pacelli only filled three of the seven spots in the lineup, automatically giving Medford the team win. The Raiders won two of the three matches that were contested.

Schulz dominated the only singles match that was contested, shutting out Pacelli’s Josh Opaneye 6-0, 6-0. At number-two doubles, Preuss and Spanbauer recovered from a slow start and defeated Evan Pekarek and Chad Ellingson 2-6, 6-1, 10-5.

Pacelli’s Marcus Lansing and Hunter Wrezinski, sectional qualifiers a year ago, defeated Reimann and Searles 6-2, 6-4 in the number-one doubles match.

Thums and Carter Zenner were credited with a forfeit win at numberthree doubles. Hill, Kollmansberger and Ethan Jones got forfeit wins in singles.

Medford’s Ethan Kollmansberger lines up a forehand return during his three-set win over Ashland’s Lucas Oliphant Tuesday afternoon. MATT FREY/THE STAR NEWS