For the Antigo Times

It wasn’t exactly tennis playing weather with the temperature in the upper 30s, but the Antigo boys tennis team lit up their home courts with a 6-1 victory over DC Everest, and followed that up with a highly-contested win over the Ashland Oredockers 4-3.

“With the team at full strength, this non-conference triangular gave me a chance to see where we are at and what the team needs to improve in. Overall I feel we are making solid improvement. I am especially encouraged to see the heart these boys play with,” Coach Dave Zalewski said.

Tommy Blink was down 2-5 against Ashland’s Casey Hilts and fought his way back to a tiebreaker at 6-6 to win the set at 7-4. Tanner Stueck fell behind 0-3 after winning the first set against Paul Bianchi from Ashland but refused to quit, forcing a tiebreaker that he won 7-4.

Against Everest, Jake Waters and Brody Bunnell split sets and won the third in a close tiebreaker.

Ashland’s No .1 doubles team was very talented and challenged Antigo’s ace doubles team of Drew Schwarz and Ben Bartletti. Schwarz started to dominate at net later on and the pair pulled away in the second set to notch their fourth win.

“The victory against Ashland is something we can build on. The Oredockers are a good [Division II] team that won the DC Everest invitational last weekend and the Robin boys more than held their own,” Zalewski commended.

ANTIGO HIGH 6, D C EVEREST HIGH 1

Singles
No. 1 — Tyler Husnick, ANTIGO HIGH, def. Ryan Begley, 6-0, 6-3; No. 2 — Andrew Turunen, ANTIGO HIGH, def. Aaron Leszcznski, 6-4, 6-3; No. 3 — Tanner Stueck, ANTIGO HIGH, def. Collin Neuser, 6-2, 6-1; No. 4 — Tommy Blink, ANTIGO HIGH, def. Neng Mona, 6-0, 6-0.

Doubles
No. 1 — Drew Schwarz-Ben Bartletti, ANTIGO HIGH, def. Tim Cornish-Danny Cornish, 6-2, 6-3; No. 2 — Preston Pagel-James Radloff, D C EVEREST HIGH, def. Cole Johnson-Collin Schedlbauer, 6-2, 6-4; No. 3 — Jake Waters-Brody Bunnell, ANTIGO HIGH, def. Jack Povilaitis-Jack Vesper, 6-3, 4-6, 10-6.

ANTIGO HIGH 4, ASHLAND HIGH 3

Singles
No. 1 — Porter Beilfuss, ASHLAND HIGH, def. Tyler Husnick, 6-1, 6-1; No. 2 — Carson Honkala, ASHLAND HIGH, def. Andrew Turunen, 6-2, 6-3; No. 3 — Tanner Stueck, ANTIGO HIGH, def. Paul Bianchi, 6-4, 7-6; No. 4 — Tommy Blink, ANTIGO HIGH, def. Casey Hilts, 7-6, 6-2.

Doubles
No. 1 — Drew Schwarz-Ben Bartletti, ANTIGO HIGH, def. Augustin Rasmussen-Jared Tollas, 6-4, 6-3; No. 2 — Ben Mikkonen-Erik Van Horn, ASHLAND HIGH, def. Cole Johnson-Collin Schedlbauer, 6-3, 6-0; No. 3 — Jake Waters-Brody Bunnell, ANTIGO HIGH, def. Mitchell Strong-Rhett Hopper, 6-4, 6-0.