EAST TROY — Charlie Frehner, playing at No. 4 singles, was the lone Cheesemaker to advance out of the May 20 WIAA Division 2 tennis subsectional, but he saw his run at sectionals end two days later. Only players at No. 1 and 2 singles and doubles can advance to state.

“Even though it wasn’t the result we wanted for Charlie today, this was still a tremendous opportunity for him to play at sectionals and to represent our school,” Bordner said May 22. “He had a fantastic finish to the season as he outplayed everyone’s expectations.”

Wet court conditions delayed the start of the sectional, and heavy wind effected both Frehner and Waukesha Catholic Memorial’s Jack McCaffrey in their opening match of the sectional. McCaffery won 6-1, 6-0.

“Both opponents dealt with extreme wind conditions, but I think it affected Charlie’s game and playing style a bit more than his opponent’s,” Bordner said.

In his second match of the day, Frehner, a freshman, lost in three sets to Grafton’s Shantanu Chaudhuri 2-6, 7-6 (5), 6-1.

“In Charlie’s second match, he came out looking great and won a very fast first set. The next set was much more of a grind. Both opponents were having major difficulties with the wind and the whole second set seemed to be points won from unforced errors,” Bordner said. “Charlie ended up dropping the second set in a set tiebreaker and just ran out of steam in that third set.”

To get to the sectional, Frehner blanked Jefferson’s Sawyer Peterson 6-0, 6-0 in the May 21 subsectional. Later that day, Frehner ousted East Troy’s Josh Marshman 6-0, 6-3.

Monroe’s No. 2 singles player Chris Andraski edged Big Foot’s Eman Carreno in a tiebreaker in a first-round No. 2 singles match, 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (5). Andraski was the only other Cheesemaker to win a match in the subsectional.

“Chris Andraski was our other player who earned a victory. He was the No. 5 seed at 2-singles and beat the No. 4 seed. This was a great achievement for Chris as this was a player he lost to in a close match earlier in the season,” Bordner said. “It came down to a third set tiebreaker, and Chris did a great job of taking over the net and playing more aggressively to win the match.”

Andraski lost his next match 6-0, 6-1 to Madison Edgewood’s Christopher Boll.

“He had a very difficult second match against an Edgewood player that will very likely qualify for state,” Bordner said.

Bo Bahler, Monroe’s top-flight singles player, was swept by East Troy’s Dayne Lindow 6-0, 6-0.

At No. 3 singles, Gabe Moon lost to East Troy’s Mac Dudkiewicz 6-0, 6-2.

On the doubles side, Monroe’s top tandem of Evan Thompson and Luke Quinn saw their season come to a close with a 6-1, 6-0 loss to McFarland’s Tyson Laux and Logan Snelling.

Heath Bear and Jon Callaway, playing at No. 2 doubles, lost to Big Foot’s Owen Martin and Jack Grunow 6-3, 6-4.

At No. 3 doubles, Wade Sweeney and Luis Torres fell 6-2, 6-2 to Big Foot’s Eli Hibl and A.J. Courier.

“The rest of our guys competed hard but came up short against better opponents. I was pleased with our effort and looking forward to continuing to build this program into a stronger and more experienced one in the future,” Bordner said.

A generally inexperienced team when the season began, the Cheesemakers were playing competitive tennis up and down the lineup as the year wound down, winning a conference dual to Fort Atkinson and dropping two others by a single match.

“It was a fun year for our team, and while we didn’t have as much team success as we wanted, we definitely have some good pieces to build from for next year. We have a strong core of younger players that got tremendous varsity experience this year,” Bordner said. “We will lose a nice group of seniors but it will be fun to see how this team reloads for next season as we continue to try and build up this team.”

Frehner’s run at the end of the year impressed Bordner. After reaching the No. 4 singles championship in the Badger Conference Tournament, Frehner advanced out of the subsectional just days later. Bordner called his young freshman the most consistent player in his lineup in the closing weeks of the regular season.

“He played multiple matches on Friday, Saturday, Monday, and then today,” Bordner said May 22. “I think the physical and mental fatigue of it all probably caught up to him. Having the success he had though really makes for a great foundation to build on for next year. He will definitely shift up in our lineup next year and it’ll be valuable to use some of these tough post-season matches as fuel for his training in the off-season.”