For the Antigo Times

The Antigo boys tennis team came out of the starting blocks with a strong performance this past weekend, playing in the annual Wausau West Quad. After two weeks of practice, the boys were eager to face some competition.

“I was looking at this tournament as a chance for the boys to just get some playing time with no expectation of winning and ended pleasantly surprised at the way the boys competed,” Coach Dave Zalewski said.

The first match was against Antigo’s conference nemesis Rhinelander. The temp was a chilly 40 degree but the Antigo boys came out hot. Drew Schwarz stepped into the number one position, replacing Tyler husnick who was on vacation. Playing against last season’s conference champ, Logan Wild, Schwartz fought back after dropping the first set. With aggressive net play, he won the next two sets.

All four singles flights won.

Tanner Stueck had to dig deep at No. 3 singles to come back after losing the first set.  The singles, winning all four flights, gave Antigo a 4-3 victory, with all the doubles going to Rhinelander.

In the second match, Antigo squared off against Wausau West for another close meet. Shifting the lineup to give the normal doubles teams some court time together, Antigo split the singles but claimed two of the three doubles to scrape out another 4-3 victory.

Stueck and Tommy Blink did a very good job wearing down their opponents to win in straight sets. Last year’s state qualifiers, Ben Bartletti and Schwarz, picked up where they left off, crushing their next two opponents, dropping just one game in four sets.

At No. 2 doubles were Cole Johnson and Collin Schedlbauer, now together three years, beating both Wausau West and Pulaski in two closely contested matches.

The newly-formed team of freshman Brody Bunnell and senior Jake Waters may have lost their two matches at No. 3 doubles, but “they played with a lot of heart as well as learning where they need to improve. I see a lot of promise in this team,” Zalewski added.

By the time the boys played Pulaski for their third match of the day, the wind was gusting, blowing the ball all over the court, and the team was getting fatigued. Andy Turunen stepped up to the top singles position and played a smart match to get a satisfying win. Unfortunately, no one else was able to grab a point in singles and the team lost 3-4.

In exhibition, freshman Ben Morris played six sets of tennis against six different opponents.

“Overall I was very pleased with the effort the team put forth. I think the direction we are headed is positive and am looking forward to see what we can accomplish,” Zalewski said in closing.

Antigo plays at home on Tuesday evening against Ashland and DC Everest.

ANTIGO HIGH 4, WAUSAU WEST HIGH 3

Singles

No. 1 — Luke Bailey, WEST HIGH, def. Tanner Stueck, 6-0, 6-1; No. 2 — Tanner Stueck, ANTIGO HIGH, def. Tate Rauman, 6-3, 6-0; No. 3 — Tommy Blink, ANTIGO HIGH, def. Wesley Spitzer, 6-2, 6-1; No. 4 — Josh Patrick, WEST HIGH, def. Tyler Hickman, 6-0, 6-4;

Doubles
No. 1 — Drew Schwarz-Ben Bartletti, ANTIGO HIGH, def. Feuchi Yang-Luke Halvorsen, 6-0, 6-0; No. 2 — Cole Johnson-Collin Schedlbauer, ANTIGO HIGH, def. Nathan Evers-Eddy Xiong, 6-4, 6-3; No. 3 — Juaquin Ramos-Will Brown, WEST HIGH, def. Jake Waters-Brody Bunnell.

PULASKI HIGH 4, ANTIGO HIGH 3

Singles
No. 1 — Andrew Turunen, ANTIGO HIGH, def. Jack Danner, 6-3, 6-0; No. 2 — Caleb Paradies, PULASKI HIGH, def. Tanner Stueck, 6-1, 7-6; No. 3 — Jeffrey Ai, PULASKI HIGH, def. Tommy Blink, 7-5, 6-1; No. 4 — Dylan Tousey, PULASKI HIGH, def. Tyler Hickman, 6-1, 6-0.

Doubles
No. 1 — Drew Schwarz-Ben Bartletti, ANTIGO HIGH, def. Evan Fenendael-Alec Bukowioc, 6-1, 6-0; No. 2 — Cole Johnson-Collin Schedlbauer, ANTIGO HIGH, def. Garrison Clark-Rory Sarenich, 6-3, 6-7, 10-6; No. 3 — Jaidon Novinska-Luke Jarock, PULASKI HIGH, def. Jake Waters-Brody Bunnell, 6-3, 6-1.

ANTIGO HIGH 4, RHINELANDER HIGH 3

Singles
No. 1 — Drew Schwarz, ANTIGO HIGH, def. Login Wild, 6-7, 6-1, 10-4; No. 2 — Ben Bartletti, ANTIGO HIGH, def. Russell Benoy, 6-0, 6-0; No. 3 — Tanner Stueck, ANTIGO HIGH, def. Marshall Bessette, 2-6, 6-1, 10-7; No. 4 — Tommy Blink, ANTIGO HIGH, def. Jonas Sabani, 6-2, 6-0;

Doubles
No. 1 — Markus Johnson-Logan Keso, RHINELANDER HIGH, def. Cole Johnson-Collin Schedlbauer, 6-2, 6-1; No. 2 — Grant Gilbert-Jared Fabich, RHINELANDER HIGH, def. Jake Waters-Brody Bunnell, 6-2, 6-2; No. 3 — Conner Young-Jared Haug, RHINELANDER HIGH, def. Andrew Turunen-Tyler Hickman, 7-5, 6-0;