EAST TROY — With two wins in the Division 2 Sectional on Wednesday, May 24, Monroe’s No. 1 doubles duo of Ryan Mathiason and Max Petitjean secured their spot in the Individual State Tournament at Nielson Stadium. It is the second straight year the Cheesemakers’ No. 1 doubles team qualified for state, as Chris Giasson and Aaron Roidt went in 2022.
Mathiason and Petitjean opened the sectional tournament with a 6-3, 6-2 win over Mauston’s Brody McCluskey and Tyler Neron. Another straight-set victory, 6-4, 6-4 over Jose Pablos and Santiago Guerrero of St. John’s Northwestern Military Academy sent the pair to the championship match against Edgewood’s top squad.
Earlier in the season, Mason Robinson and Mac Yackee defeated Mathiason and Petitjean in three sets 6-4, 4-6, 10-8. The sectional match proved much the same, as Edgewood’s pair won 3-6, 6-4, 10-8.
“We jumped off to a hot start and won the first set, but Edgewood rallied back to claim the second set,” Monroe head coach Matt Bordner said. “We had an early edge in the match tiebreak, but Edgewood finished off some nice points in the tail end of the match to win the sectional championship. We look forward to seeing where Max and Ryan end up in the bracket.”
At No. 1 singles, Matthew Setterstrom lost his opening match to returning state qualifier Owen Benck of Portage 6-2, 6-2. Wes Saunders opened with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Sam Kane of Viroqua but fell 6-3, 6-4 to Aiden Taylor of East Troy. Although both individuals did not automatically qualify for state, Bordner has put in a request for Setterstrom and Saunders to make state as special qualifiers. The results of those requests are still pending.
To advance to sectionals, each athlete had to win at least one of their matches in subsectionals on Monday, May 22. Setterstrom defeated Patrick Traver of Jefferson 7-5, 6-2; Saunders beat Aidan Turner of Jefferson 6-1, 6-2 and edged Ramiro Perez of St. John’s Northwestern Military Academy 7-6 (5), 5-7, 10-7; and Mathiason and Petitjean cruised to a 6-3, 6-0 victory over Nick Wilson and Emerson Ellenwood of Whitewater.
At No. 3 singles, Gavin Eckerman won his first match — which took 2 1/2 hours — 6-7 (6), 6-2, 10-6. He then fell to No. 1 seed Noah Edwards of East Troy 6-0, 6-1.
“Gavin won a 2.5-hour grinder against a Whitewater opponent who he was very evenly matched with,” Bordner said. “Unfortunately, he didn’t have enough gas in the tank against a very strong East Troy opponent. Gavin finished a fantastic singles career for our program and did a great job helping elevate our program the last few years.”
Clayton Waski dropped his opening No. 4 singles match to Advit Sukheja of Edgerton 6-2, 6-4.
At No. 2 doubles, Louis Armstrong and Mitchell Ferguson fell in two set tiebreakers 7-6 (3), 7-6 (6) to the Delavan-Darien pair Kenneth Shackett and Camden Lockhart.
With a No. 3 seed, Brandon Basset and Carsen Bartholf defeated George Butzer and Daltin Papandrea of St. John’s Northwestern Military Academy 2-6, 6-3, 10-2. The pushed Owen Belz and Nick Kleiboer of Edgerton but fell 6-4, 7-5.
“Carsen and Brandon recovered from a very slow start in their first match and won the second set and match tiebreaker to advance to the second round,” Bordner said. “They came up a few games short of beating a talented Edgerton team, and I look forward to seeing Carsen and Brandon improve heading into next season.”
