Outstanding depth is something Neenah women tennis coach Dan Grassl hopes will be in his staff’s favor at this weekend’s WIAA women state staff tennis event.

The Rockets are the No. 2 seed with a 20-1 document and face seventh-seeded Elkhorn (12-12-1) at 4 p.m. Oct. 23 in a Division 1 state quarterfinal at Nielsen Tennis Stadium in Madison. It’s the twenty third general state look and fourth consecutive season for Neenah.

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Semifinals are at 9 a.m. Oct. 24 with the D1 championship set for 2 p.m.

“A lot of our team is returning, so that definitely helps,” Neenah senior and No. 1 singles participant Celia Gentile said of the staff’s depth. “I know we’re all really excited for team state, so if we channel our excitement the right way we can do great things at team state.”

Neenah’s singles lineup is led by Gentile, who took third at last week’s particular person state event in D1. She’s 29-3 general at No. 1 singles. No. 2 singles participant Rachel Thomas, a sophomore, is 25-4 with senior Ellie Grace Zickler (20-7) and sophomore Page Vickman (20-6) at No. 3 and No. 4 singles, respectively.

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Photos: WIAA women tennis particular person state championships

Neenah High School’s Rebekah Thomas, left, and Sydney Michalkiewicz high-five after successful a level during the WIAA women tennis particular person state championships Friday, Oct. 16, 2026, at Nielsen Tennis Stadium in Madison, Wisconsin
Dan Powers/Appleton Post-Crescent

(Dan Powers/Appleton Post-Crescent)

The Rockets’ three doubles groups entered the postseason with an identical 30-2 data. The No. 1 duo of senior Rebekah Thomas and junior Sydney Michalkiewicz positioned third last week at the particular person event, with the No. 2 duo of seniors Ella Motto and Evelyn Buss also reaching state. Seniors JB Kennedy and Mollie VanDyke spherical out a formidable doubles trio that will be crucial to the staff’s hopes of a state championship.

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“The depth of the lineup is the key to winning,” Grassl said. “Sure, you can have the top best players, but if you don’t have enough players down the rest of the lineup, you can’t win four points. You need the four points. So our doubles teams are all extremely strong. All three of them finished the regular season 30-2. And we have a lot of strength in singles, too, with Celia, Rachel Thomas and Ellie Grace Zickler at 3 and Page Vickman at 4.”

Zickler and Vickman were the newcomers to this 12 months’s staff.

“They weren’t on varsity last year and they’ve learned a lot this year,” Grassl said. “They learned the stress of different level of competition, longer matches … all that stuff. We had them down to watch individual state so they can get the feel of that environment and do everything we could to get ready.”

Neenah fell last season to Brookfield East 6-1 in the D1 championship match and East (21-2) is the prime seed again this season.

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The Rockets won state titles in 2015 and 2021. They were also runners-up eight occasions: 1983, 1986, 2000, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2020-21 (COVID) and last season.

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Grassl said he has the gamers focusing on particular person matchups.

“That’s what has given us success over the last few years of knowing who needs to win one match,” he said. “And so it might be, you know, our forcing those players. We know that person they’re going to match up against and we might practice that way to give her more experience against a player that plays with that style. So we do a bit of individual focus this week to try to get them ready for the matchup.”

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Michalkiewicz said a key for her and the staff is being snug inside Nielsen, where there is ample seating for followers above and around the courts.

“You have to be calm and not think about being on the court and not looking around and focusing on your match and not the other matches,” she said. “And also grit and not giving up when you’re down and working as hard as you can, because it’s the last match of the season. You have to put it all out there.”

Rebekah Thomas said she hasn’t thought about this week being the remaining week in her prep profession, but she is excited about staff state.

“Obviously it would be nice to end on a good note,” she said. “But, in general, I think team state is my favorite part of the season. No matter what happens, I’ll still have fun and have a good time.”

Neenah High School's Rebekah Thomas hits a shot in her doubles match during the WIAA girls tennis individual state championships Friday, Oct. 16, 2026, at Nielsen Tennis Stadium in Madison, Wisconsin Dan Powers/Appleton Post-Crescent

Neenah High School’s Rebekah Thomas hits a shot in her doubles match during the WIAA women tennis particular person state championships Friday, Oct. 16, 2026, at Nielsen Tennis Stadium in Madison, Wisconsin Dan Powers/Appleton Post-Crescent

St. Mary Catholic faces Edgewood in D2 semifinal

St. Mary Catholic is making its second straight state look and fourth general. The Zephyrs fell last season in the semifinals to Altoona. SMC (17-1) is the No. 2 seed and will play No. 3 seed Edgewood (14-4) at 9 a.m. Oct. 24 in a semifinal. The championship match is set for 2 p.m.

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The Zephyrs are a bit of an unknown at singles due to a back harm to No. 1 singles participant Vivie Auth, who was 25-0 this season but has been nursing an harm in the postseason and was not ready to take part in the particular person state event last week.

That means Molly Nagel will determine in the singles combine in the staff’s semifinal against Edgewood, along with senior Nadia Alexander (16-9), sophomore Elsa Rossmeissl (11-12) and freshman Norah Wroblewski (19-2).

The Zephyrs’ duo of junior Ella Chier and senior Halle Janssen is at No. 1 doubles and was 20-5 in the common season. Senior Kieran Bergstrom and sophomore Scarlett Bergstrom were 24-1 at No. 2 doubles with sophomores Faith Bergstrom and Laney Schmidt also 24-1 at No. 3 doubles.

“A lot of our players had great records this season,” SMC coach Lizzy Bergstrom Auth said. “They continue to improve. Our 1 doubles had a great showing at [individual] state. They were the seventh seed and took fifth. Our 2 doubles made it to individual state, so we’re really hopeful that the team will step up and have a good tournament.”

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The Zephyrs’ only twin meet loss this season is to Division 1 Appleton North.

This article initially appeared on Appleton Post-Crescent: Neenah tennis staff places deep lineup on show at state staff event



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