EAST TROY — Monroe’s No. 1 doubles tandem of seniors Jensen Christensen and Grace Tostrud advanced to the WIAA Division 2 state tournament for the second year in a row.

Tostrud and Christensen are now 22-4 overall after a second-place finish in the Oct. 8 East Troy Sectional.

The duo opened the sectional with a match against St. Thomas More’s Erin Horzewski and Abbey Hoffman and won 6-4, 6-3.

“They worked through some service issues and won a nice match while taking over at the net,” Monroe coach Matt Bordner said. “This match clinched them another trip to state, which was really exciting for the girls.”

In the sectional semifinals against Waukesha Catholic Memorial’s Rylee Teuteberg and Alex Strum, the Cheesemakers again won 6-4, 6-3.

“Grace and Jensen lost to Catholic Memorial last year at sectionals, and so this year as seniors, I think they came out with a chip on their shoulders and knew they needed to play really aggressive if they wanted to win,” Bordner said. “They did just that, and really impressed a lot of coaches and fans with how strong they were with their net play. The match was close, but I give a lot of credit to Grace and Jensen for staying focused the whole match and bringing a lot of energy.”

The win not only advanced Tostrud and Christensen to the sectional final but did a lot for their position in the field at the state meet.

“This match was a huge win for seeding purposes at state,” Bordner said.

In the finals against University School of Milwaukee’s Grace Gridley and Stephanie Guy, Monroe took the first set 7-5 before losing the second set in a tiebreaker, 7-6 (7).

 “We opened up slow and found ourselves down 0-3 in the first set. Grace and Jensen fired right back, though, and ended taking a tight first set,” Bordner said. “They bought themselves some breathing room, and actually had a match point opportunity in that second set. Unfortunately, we dropped a second set tiebreaker that was a real nail-biter.”

In the decisive third set, the Cheesemakers fell 6-3.

“The third set was really just as close as the first two, with a couple of points that just didn’t go our way. Even dropping in the finals ended up being a positive simply because of how well Grace and Jensen played and how they set themselves up for hopefully a seed at state,” Bordner said.

First round matches at the state tournament are scheduled for Oct. 17 at UW Nielsen Tennis Stadium in Madison. Bordner said his top doubles tandem is hoping for a top-8 seed.

“They’ve had a tremendous season and are peaking at the right time. We’ve got a few things we are confident we can clean up a little bit, and then just see where the journey takes us from here,” Bordner said.

To get to the sectional, Tostrud and Christensen rolled in their subsectional win over Jefferson, 6-1, 6-1. The subsectional, held Oct. 9 at The Prairie School outside of Racine, saw the end for the rest of the Monroe squad. 

“I was really proud of our effort and the energy we played with,” Bordner said of the subsectional. “We had a long trip but showed up with a great tennis mindset and all of our girls left it out on the courts.”

Monroe’s No. 3 doubles tandem of Ava Petitjean and Sadie Conway won their first match against Whitewater 6-4, 6-4, but then lost to East Troy 2-6, 6-3, 6-0.

“Ava and Sadie were the No. 5 seed and opened with a win over the No. 4 seed. They played really well and were very aggressive,” Bordner said. “They won the first set in their matchup with the No. 1 seed in the second round, but just ran out of steam in the next two sets. I was so proud of how well they played this season for us, especially since both players didn’t have a lot of tennis experience coming into the season.”

Bekah Rath, playing 2-singles for the Cheesemakers, defeated Sophia Ward of Burlington Catholic Central 6-1, 6-0 before falling to East Troy’s Sydney Raddeman 6-2, 6-1. 

“Bekah was the No. 8 seed and won the pigtail round against the No. 9 seed to advance and play the No. 1 seed,” Bordner said. “Bekah played really well; it was actually probably one of the best matches I’ve seen her play. She will return next year for us as a strong tennis player with a lot of varsity experience.”

Grace Mathiason, Monroe’s No. 3 singles player, also defeated her Burlington Catholic Central opponent (Abigail Sheehan) 6-0, 6-0, before losing to East Troy’s Jessica Tess 6-0, 6-1.

“Grace had a similar path as Bekah and was just a bit outmatched against East Troy. Grace was an excellent player for us these past two years, and for someone who has only played the sport for two seasons, she really progressed well and was fun to have on the team,” Bordner said.

Emma Towne lost her lone No. 1 singles match to Jefferson’s Anna Kallsen 6-1, 6-4, and Kelli Polnow fell to East Troy’s Izzy Galluzo 6-4, 6-1.

“Emma came out really fired up in the first set, but just not as controlled as she needed to be. She had some double faults and unforced errors that were tough, but she really bounced back to have a strong second set. She was actually up 4-1 in the second set but couldn’t close the door to finish that set out,” Bordner said. “Emma had a really strong season for us at 1-singles and will likely go on to play some college tennis, which is really exciting. I think she has a high ceiling with tennis as she moves forward into the next stage of her career.”

At No. 2 doubles, sisters Kerstin and Kylie Miller lost 6-1, 6-2 to Whitewater’s Melanie Reyes and Mariana Cano.

“Kerstin and Kylie unfortunately had an off day. They played a Whitewater pair they had beaten earlier in the season, but Kylie wasn’t feeling the best and they were just off-sync at times,” Bordner said. “Kerstin finished an excellent varsity career with us, and Kylie will come back next year as a junior with a lot of potential to develop as a really strong tennis player.”