Hodag Highlights: Hodags win record 12th straight conference tennis title

The Rhinelander High School boys tennis team captured its 12th consecutive Great Northern Conference championship on May 21, claiming the title on their home courts and extending one of the most remarkable streaks in local prep sports history.
The Hodags entered the meet with a four-point lead over Medford and left no doubt, finishing first or second in every flight to secure the team title. Leading the way was No. 1 singles player Asher Rivord, who earned Conference Player of the Year honors with a dramatic tiebreaker victory over Ashland’s Adrian Erickson — a rematch of the two players’ opening conference match earlier in the season, which also went Rivord’s way in a tiebreaker. Calvin Loomis claimed the No. 2 singles championship, and the doubles team of Kellen O’Malley and Brayden Barnhill took the No. 2 doubles title.Rhinelander swept the runner-up spots in the remaining flights. Aidan Lueder at No. 3 singles and Mark Currie at No. 4 singles both earned second-team all-conference honors, as did the doubles pairs of Danek Koniar and Henry Bonardelli at No. 1 doubles and Owen Evers and Roan Childs at No. 3 doubles.
The Hodags’ postseason run continued May 26 at Wausau West, where the team competed in the subsectional meet. Rivord was the lone Rhinelander player to advance out of the subsectional, earning a spot in the sectional meet in Eau Claire. He fell in his first match there, bringing the Hodags’ season to a close.