MADISON - At least for one round of play, Monroe's tennis squad drew on experience for some gutty victories during Thursday's first round of matches at the Badger Conference Tennis Tournament at Nielsen Tennis Stadium.
While the Cheesemakers' No. 1 and No. 3 doubles teams will rise and hope to shine this morning again after advancing through Thursday's quarterfinals, two performances got the first day kickstarted for Monroe.
The No. 1 doubles pairing of seniors Matt Turek and Levi Janssens defeated McFarland's tandem, 6-2, 6-2, and the Cheesemakers' No. 3 doubles team of Nick Hendrickson-Patrick Gellings, seeded first, beat Waunakee's duo, also 6-2, 6-2, after a bye. Both Monroe teams will take aim at today's semifinals.
No. 2 singles player Matt Le, a junior, used a late surge to get past Monona Grove's Carl Sorge, 3-6, 6-2, 7-5, for the first time in their three career meetings. That first-round victory came about an hour after No. 4 singles player Dan Becker, also a junior, held on for dear life to survive a three-hour, 6-4, 6-7, 6-4, marathon against Joe Breunig of Sauk Prairie.
Both matchups were renewals of hard-fought personal rivalries. Becker won a 7-6, 7-6, nailbiter April 21 in their non-conference dual and Thursday's sequel was equally rivetting.
Breunig rallied from a 4-2 deficit in the second set and used a defensive approach to even things up in a 9-7 tiebreaker after Becker took the first set. After Becker went up 5-3 in the decisive set, he had to feel like Breunig took all the momentum when the Eagles' junior broke Becker's service to pull within one game at 5-4.
But Becker duked out a deuce battle, first stretching to his right to cross up a rushing Breunig with a pinpoint net volley from Becker's right to his left. The shot earned Becker the advantage, and he put it to good use by crossing Breunig up again from the same spot to put the match away.
"When you're up and have a match point, you just wanna put on pressure, and rushing the net is a good way to do that," Becker said.
Both combatants sustained points by recovering very well on lobs and showing fearlessness at the net.
"We're just so close in everything," Becker said. "At the net and in serves, we're very even."
Two courts down, Le was in the battle of his life with Sorge. In their first two matchups, one last year and one this season, Le bounced back to take the second set against Sorge before the Silver Eagles' senior won the third.
For two sets Thursday, the trend continued.
"He was just wailing on the ball in the first set and was getting everything," Le said. "It typically happens in the second set that he falls apart. At the end, he just kind of lost it."
Le nearly was the one who lost it, as his 3-2 third-set lead quickly became a 5-3 deficit, and Sorge even served a potential match point.
"At the end, I thought I was done for when he was serving for the match," Le said.
But, after holding service to make things 4-5, Le broke Sorge's service and clearly had a new gameplan. Le played the baseline steadily, pouring on a barrage of ground shots.
"I figured I couldn't really do anything else at that point but pin him deep," Le said.
One unforced error at a time, Sorge took himself out of the match. Four straight errors wrapped up the last game, the last a smash that Sorge buried in the net.
"I don't know how many more of those I could take," Monroe coach Jim Bartholf admitted. "It was great for Matt coming from behind in the third set to win."
Bartholf didn't have to deal with a lot of anxiety thereafter. Becker dropped his second match, 6-1, 6-2, to Mario Younger of Monona Grove. Le was wiped out by Verona's sensational Guilerme Botehlo, 6-0, 6-0.
After a first-round bye, fourth-seeded junior Artem Bralgin lost his quarterfinal match with the five seed, Matt Wilson, 6-2, 6-0. Mark Hoesly and Jim Kundert also were one-and-done after their first-round bye in the No. 2 doubles ladder. No. 1 singles player Carson Root fell to McFarland, 7-5, 6-3.
While Root was making his Nielsen debut, Turek and Janssens proved they're more than just elder statesmen on the squad that boasts just three seniors. They've also learned the trick to adjusting to the controlled climate.
"It's very different playing in here for the first time," Turek said. "I don't know how it compares to other indoor (facilities), but the lighting is much different from outdoors and sometimes not having the elements to adjust to affects guys differently."
While the Cheesemakers' No. 1 and No. 3 doubles teams will rise and hope to shine this morning again after advancing through Thursday's quarterfinals, two performances got the first day kickstarted for Monroe.
The No. 1 doubles pairing of seniors Matt Turek and Levi Janssens defeated McFarland's tandem, 6-2, 6-2, and the Cheesemakers' No. 3 doubles team of Nick Hendrickson-Patrick Gellings, seeded first, beat Waunakee's duo, also 6-2, 6-2, after a bye. Both Monroe teams will take aim at today's semifinals.
No. 2 singles player Matt Le, a junior, used a late surge to get past Monona Grove's Carl Sorge, 3-6, 6-2, 7-5, for the first time in their three career meetings. That first-round victory came about an hour after No. 4 singles player Dan Becker, also a junior, held on for dear life to survive a three-hour, 6-4, 6-7, 6-4, marathon against Joe Breunig of Sauk Prairie.
Both matchups were renewals of hard-fought personal rivalries. Becker won a 7-6, 7-6, nailbiter April 21 in their non-conference dual and Thursday's sequel was equally rivetting.
Breunig rallied from a 4-2 deficit in the second set and used a defensive approach to even things up in a 9-7 tiebreaker after Becker took the first set. After Becker went up 5-3 in the decisive set, he had to feel like Breunig took all the momentum when the Eagles' junior broke Becker's service to pull within one game at 5-4.
But Becker duked out a deuce battle, first stretching to his right to cross up a rushing Breunig with a pinpoint net volley from Becker's right to his left. The shot earned Becker the advantage, and he put it to good use by crossing Breunig up again from the same spot to put the match away.
"When you're up and have a match point, you just wanna put on pressure, and rushing the net is a good way to do that," Becker said.
Both combatants sustained points by recovering very well on lobs and showing fearlessness at the net.
"We're just so close in everything," Becker said. "At the net and in serves, we're very even."
Two courts down, Le was in the battle of his life with Sorge. In their first two matchups, one last year and one this season, Le bounced back to take the second set against Sorge before the Silver Eagles' senior won the third.
For two sets Thursday, the trend continued.
"He was just wailing on the ball in the first set and was getting everything," Le said. "It typically happens in the second set that he falls apart. At the end, he just kind of lost it."
Le nearly was the one who lost it, as his 3-2 third-set lead quickly became a 5-3 deficit, and Sorge even served a potential match point.
"At the end, I thought I was done for when he was serving for the match," Le said.
But, after holding service to make things 4-5, Le broke Sorge's service and clearly had a new gameplan. Le played the baseline steadily, pouring on a barrage of ground shots.
"I figured I couldn't really do anything else at that point but pin him deep," Le said.
One unforced error at a time, Sorge took himself out of the match. Four straight errors wrapped up the last game, the last a smash that Sorge buried in the net.
"I don't know how many more of those I could take," Monroe coach Jim Bartholf admitted. "It was great for Matt coming from behind in the third set to win."
Bartholf didn't have to deal with a lot of anxiety thereafter. Becker dropped his second match, 6-1, 6-2, to Mario Younger of Monona Grove. Le was wiped out by Verona's sensational Guilerme Botehlo, 6-0, 6-0.
After a first-round bye, fourth-seeded junior Artem Bralgin lost his quarterfinal match with the five seed, Matt Wilson, 6-2, 6-0. Mark Hoesly and Jim Kundert also were one-and-done after their first-round bye in the No. 2 doubles ladder. No. 1 singles player Carson Root fell to McFarland, 7-5, 6-3.
While Root was making his Nielsen debut, Turek and Janssens proved they're more than just elder statesmen on the squad that boasts just three seniors. They've also learned the trick to adjusting to the controlled climate.
"It's very different playing in here for the first time," Turek said. "I don't know how it compares to other indoor (facilities), but the lighting is much different from outdoors and sometimes not having the elements to adjust to affects guys differently."
