STOUGHTON — Kylie Miller was the lone Cheesemaker to advance out of the Stoughton Subsectional April 13.
Miller, Monroe’s No. 1 doubles player, was seeded third and advanced automatically due to low numbers in the subsectional. In her opening match at the Janesville Craig sectional April 14, Miller lost to Whitewater’s Emilia Houwers 6-3, 6-1, ending her season.
The rest of the team was eliminated a day earlier. Despite the struggles in the wins-loss columns all season, the Cheesemakers collectively grew each week this season. With a relatively young and inexperienced team, that left Bordner pleased — and optimistic for the future.
“I’m really happy with the progress this group made in just over a month,” Monroe coach Matt Bordner said. “It was one of the hardest working teams that I’ve coached, and we will return over 20 players this coming fall which will be excellent, including eight varsity players.”
Monroe’s No. 1 doubles tandem of Maddie Wels and Sydney Conway jumped out to an early 4-1 lead against Stoughton’s Lexi Abing and Mikayla Wheeler, only for the Vikings to rally and eventually win the match 7-5, 6-3.
“They ran out of steam and Stoughton took over the match with just slightly better placement. I think it was a match that we weren’t quite equal with them in talent, but our hustle and aggressiveness made it a really exciting match which was fun,” Bordner said. “Maddy Wels finishes out her 2-year career with the program and made a huge jump from a JV player last year all the way to No. 1 doubles this year.”
At No. 2 doubles, Melena and Bella Brunton lost 6-2, 6-3 to Karlye Smrecek and Isabella Gilmour of Edgerton. Bre Giasson and Morgan Johnson lost the No. 3 doubles match to another Edgerton pair in a tiebreaker, 2-6, 7-6 (10), 10-6.
“Our No. 2 doubles team struggled a bit with some unforced errors which was uncharacteristic, but they definitely played better later into the match. Unfortunately, it was just a little too late into the match that they started to find a better rhythm,” Bordner said. “Our No. 3 doubles team had a great first set and a nice lead in the 2nd set, but tightened up and couldn’t quite close out their match either. It’ll be really nice bringing back 5 players with varsity doubles experience and I’m looking forward to their development this summer and seeing how things pair our next fall.”
At No. 2 singles, Monroe senior Cecily Burch saw her high school career come to an end. She defeated Brooklinn Skinner of Edgerton 7-5, 6-4 before falling 6-0, 6-0 to Verona’s Elsa Queoff.
“Cecily Burch opened up with a solid win in the 4-vs.-5 matchup, but found herself outmatched against a really fantastic Verona opponent. Cecily finishes out a 4-year career with our program and was a tremendous leader for our team this year,” Bordner said.
At 3- and 4-singles, Monroe’s Allison Wunschel and Alicia Brunton lost their only matches. Wunschel was swept 6-0, 6-0, while Brunton fell 6-1, 6-0.
“Allison and Alicia both struggled in their matches. I think their opponents definitely had the edge, but I also feel like both Allison and Alicia didn’t find their normal rhythm they were starting to find in our recent matches,” Bordner said. “It’ll be great bringing them back next year though. Alicia will definitely keep playing singles for us and I think Allison could go either way.”
