KOHLER — Monroe’s No. 1 doubles tandem of Charlie Frehner and Aaron Roidt went 1-1 at the WIAA Division 2 state tournament June 17-18 at Sports Core in Kohler.
The pair won its opener over Jack Ives and Ryan Chmelik of Altoona (14-6), 6-1, 6-3. The next day against La Crosse Aquinas’ Garrett Butler and Seth Capelli (18-1), the Cheesemakers lost 6-0, 6-4.
“Our No. 1 doubles finished off an extremely strong season Friday with a tough 6-0, 6-4 loss to an undefeated Aquinas doubles team,” Monroe coach Matt Bordner said.
In the opening round win over Altoona on June 17, the Monroe boys jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the opening set to mark the tone of the match.
“Aaron’s presence at the net was great in that first set and Charlie was setting him up really well with a nice mix of lobs and deep groundstrokes to Altoona. Aaron’s serve has also made some nice progress in the past week and I think their confidence really showed in that first set. They’re super fun to watch when they are locked in like they were in that first set,” Bordner said.
Altoona kept it closer in the second set, keeping the game score tied at 3-3.
“Charlie and Aaron picked up a big game then to go up 4-3 and then closed the door after that,” Bordner said.
The next day the Cheesemakers jumped back onto the court to play then-unbeaten Aquinas.
“We did a little scouting before the match and felt like we matched up really well with them. Aquinas played a nearly perfect first set with very few unforced errors and great placement around the court,” Bordner said.
The coach met his players at the set changeover and Roidt and Frehner “felt good about getting a fresh start at set.”
The pair, which finished the season 10-7, found themselves down in sets multiple times throughout the season, only to rally and pick up a win.
“Their confidence in being able to work back into the match was there,” Bordner said.
Monroe won the first game of the second set, then found themselves ahead 4-1 and on the brink of sending the game into a third set.
“Aquinas was struggling with their serve and Charlie was playing great at the baseline and setting up Aaron up front. We had some opportunities to grab onto our fifth game but just couldn’t quite turn some deuce games into our favor,” Bordner said. “Aquinas won some really tough points and was able to rattle off the next five games to secure the win. Overall, I think that second set was Charlie and Aaron’s best tennis of the season which is exactly what you want in post-season play. Unfortunately, it wasn’t quite enough.”
Frehner and Roidt opened the season as new partners. The duo lacked overall experience but meshed well early on in practice and Bordner ran with the duo in the top flight from the start.
“For these guys to make it this far in the state tournament as juniors with not much experience was really quite amazing,” Bordner said. “This will be a doubles team our boys team will remember for quite a while and how they caught fire at the end of the season. For our younger players, it’s so nice for them to see their teammates make it to a high level and hopefully they just continue to encourage them to keep playing and grinding to get better.”
Top-seeded Drew Buckholdt and Pranav Gogineni of Brookfield Academy (13-5) won the state title in Division 2 by defeating second-overall seed Andrew Bechtold and Shaan Sharma of University School of Milwaukee (8-4). Fourth-seeded Hayden Houselander and Tanner Witt of New Berlin Eisenhower (16-10) were third, with Ty Rondestvedt and Dan Harris of Altoona (19-5) taking fourth. Michael and Ben McGuire of St. Mary’s Springs (18-1) finished fifth.
