MONROE — Going into his team’s second conference match of the season, Monroe head coach Matt Bordner knew Whitewater would pose a threat.
“We knew that Monroe, Whitewater and Delavan all seem to be in the mix for second-best in the conference behind East Troy, and this match lived up to the expectations,” Bordner said. “It was tough coming out on the losing end, but I think it’s a good chance for us to see how we can handle some adversity after previously winning the last three of four matches.”
At No. 1 singles, Lindsay Leuzinger faced a two-time state qualifier in Emilia Houwers. Despite opportunities to make the set tighter, Houwers prevailed 6-2, 6-2.
Kate Kundert and Ryann Dahlman picked up wins in their respective singles matches. While Kundert played “her best set of the season,” according to Bordner, the real highlight was Dahlmann at No. 4 singles.
With the win, Dahlman improves to 6-3 on the season.
“She [Dahlman] is really a force at that spot in our lineup. She still has a lot to learn, but it’s a lot of fun watching her play and get after it.”
The match came down to doubles. At No. 2, Delaney Fortney and Sydney Wunschel won a tight first set, 6-4. In the second, they trailed 5-4 but came back to win 7-5.
No. 3 doubles partners Layla Pallesen and Chyler Blackburn went to a three-set, super tiebreaker but fell 10-4.
“We’ve struggled a bit with match tiebreaks this season,” Bordner said. “I think it will be an area we continue to prioritize and put our players in pressure situations in practice to hopefully start seeing some success with them.”
Delavan-Darien Quad
DELEVAN — Following a tough conference matchup on Thursday, Monroe traveled to Delavan, another Rock Valley opponent. In the quad, the squad went 2-1 with clean sweeps of Portage and Catholic Central. The Comets, a team as equally talented as Whitewater, bested the Cheesemakers 5-2.
“Coming in, it looked like they would be a similar look to Whitewater who we saw on Thursday and lost in a tight match,” Bordner said. “I was really impressed by the DDHS singles lineup. They played super consistent and didn’t give our singles lineup any chance to work back into the matches. We will see this team again next week, so I’m excited to see if we can make some adjustments and see some closer match play in the singles side.”
