MONROE — The Cheesemakers dropped a pair of duals to close out the regular season, adjusting lineups along the way due to a couple of absences.

Monroe lost on the road at Edgerton 5-2 on Sept. 27, and the next day dropped a very close 4-3 contest to Fort Atkinson-Cambridge, with multiple matches going into the tiebreaker. The Edgerton match had high stakes due to the upcoming subsectional seeding, Monroe coach Matt Bordner said.

“Edgerton is in our subsectional, and so our players understood how important it was. We were short Bre Giasson and Vaughn Barker which definitely made things tough, but I was proud of how Kate Kundert and Lindsey Leuzinger stepped in on short notice,” Bordner said. 

Alicia Brunton scored a stellar 6-0, 6-0 victory at No. 2 singles over Larissa Ayers. Monroe’s other victory came at No. 2 doubles, where Melena Brunton and Morgan Johnson toppled Juliet and Samantha Aleson 6-2, 6-3.

“Alicia played a direct substitute from Edgerton and really took care of business against a player that was pretty inexperienced,” Bordner said.

In the top flight singles match, Monroe’s Kylie Miller was flat in the first set and went on to lose 6-0, 6-3.

“She came alive in the second set but I think it was just one of those matches where she couldn’t string together enough points. It’s been a tough stretch for her here, but I know she can compete at No. 1 singles and so I’m hoping for the best for her at subsectionals,” Bordner said.

Bella Brunton dropped a three-set roller coaster match against Brooklinn Skinner at No. 3 doubles. Kundert fell to Lilly Laskowski 6-2, 6-2 at No. 4 singles.

“Bella had a really tight match. There were a couple close points in the first set that didn’t swing her way, but she reset herself for a really strong second set and won 6-1. Unfortunately, when it comes to match tiebreakers, it can really go either way and Bella dug a hole early in the tiebreak and couldn’t work her way back in,” Bordner said. “Kate Kundert filled in and did a really nice job. She will definitely be a big part of our team next year, and so getting her this experience was really nice. Her groundstrokes are really coming along and I think as she becomes more comfortable with her serve, she will find a lot of success in singles.”

At No. 1 doubles, Lydia Setterstrom and Sydnee Conway fell 6-1, 6-3. Allison Wunschel and Leuzinger lost at No. 3 doubles, 6-3, 6-4.

“One doubles played an incredibly competitive match as well. Their No. 1 doubles team was really talented, and so it was nice to see our team rise to the occasion. Syd battled her heart out and I think it was Lydia’s best match of the year as well,” Bordner said. “Three doubles was close, but again not enough to take the win. Allison and Lindsay kind of got thrown together with Bre being out, and Lindsay has been practicing singles for quite some time for us now. I think the adjustment was probably a little difficult for her, but I think there were plenty of good things to take away from their match. They will end up finishing the season out together at three doubles and will play at subsectionals together, so we will use the next three days of practice to just work on improvement.”

Against Fort Atkinson, three matches went into three sets, with Monroe losing two of the three. 

“We were again short-handed without Bre and Vaughn, and so I switched the lineup a bit and we almost pulled off the victory,” Bordner said.

Miller rallied to pull together a 3-6, 6-3, 10-8 nail-biter at No. 1 singles that took two hours. It was the only singles win of the day for the Cheesemakers.

“Kylie played the match of the night,” Bordner said. “She played pretty decent in the first set but moved around the court a lot better in the second set and it showed. She got to the tiebreaker and had a 7-2 lead. Her opponent rattled off 5-straight points to tie it at 7, but give credit to Kylie for staying mentally steady and winning the next 3 out of 4 points to take the match.”

Not lucky enough was Leuzinger, who lost to Lillian Granec at No. 3 singles, 2-6, 6-4, 10-7.

“Lindsay made a big jump up to 3-singles and played great for us. For her to almost pull of a win here was great. I think Lindsay’s improvement in one year has really been impressive and I’m excited to see where she’s at next year,” Bordner said.

Kundert, at No. 4 singles, lost 6-4, 6-1, while Setterstrom fell in her No. 2 singles match 6-1, 6-3. Kundert, Setterstrom and Leuzinger are all sophomores, which gives Bordner a good view of what his program’s future might look like.

“Lydia fit into our singles lineup today which is likely where she will play next year. I think she played a little tentative in the first set but definitely settled in to play a nice second set and I really liked what I saw,” Bordner said. “(Kundert) played steady. She’s such a competitor and fought back being down 2-5 to get it to 4-5, but just couldn’t swing it to 5-5 to extend that set and then I think just lost some momentum after that.”

On the doubles side, Conway and Wunschel paired up and won the top flight 6-3, 7-6 (5). 

“Syd and Allison played ones together which very well could be our 1-doubles team next year. I think it was a good start for them. They had a sloppy second set but luckily closed out the set tiebreaker to grab a nice win,” Bordner said.

Johnson and Melena Brunton picked up a second win in as many nights, this time by a mark of 6-2, 6-0. Alicia and Bella Brunton were the No. 3 doubles tandem and lost in a nail-biter, 6-2, 4-6, 10-7.

“Morgan and Melena continued to play well for us at the No. 2 doubles slot and had a convincing win,” Bordner said. “Alicia and Bella played doubles together which was a new pairing, and I think they started to find a grove into the second set. They forced the third set tiebreaker but again we fell just short. I was proud of them for shifting into doubles for me as our lineup has had to be a little creative this week losing Bre and Vaughn. 

“Our focus now turns to practice the rest of the week and subsectionals in Lodi on Monday.”