MADISON – The Cheesemakers struggled at the Badger South Conference Tournament June 4, but did get a solid set of wins from their No. 1 doubles tandem of Charlie Frehner and Aaron Roidt.
“We had pretty tough draws for most of the tournament, as we had all No. 8 seeds except for our No. 1 doubles team who got the 6-seed and No. 1 singles who got the 7-seed,” said Matt Bordner, Monroe’s head coach.
Frehner and Roidt opened against third-seeded Madison Edgewood, a team they had just handily beaten two days prior.
“But (we) knew today would likely be more of a grinder,” Bordner said on Friday. “Aaron and Charlie wanted this one bad, and it paid off. They didn't play their best, but definitely laid it all out on the line and came out with a huge win for us.”
The duo finished the match by winning 6-4, 7-5 to advance.
“They followed up with their semi-final match against Milton and struggled. I think mentally they were just tired and we also have to give credit to Milton who played a fantastic match,” Bordner said.
In the third-place match against Fort Atkinson-Cambridge, the pair fell behind after the first set, 2-6.
“It looked similar to the Milton match. I thought we came out kind of flat but we knew at any moment we could get back into it,” Bordner said.
In the second set, the pair was on the brink of losing again, trailing 2-5. Instead of laying down and taking the loss, the pair rose to the occasion, winning five straight games to take the set 7-5, then cruised through the tiebreak to win 10-2.
“We had our backs against the wall,” Bordner said. “It's fun to see them when they catch fire, as they are pretty tough to deal with. They get to a lot of balls and can take over the net when they are setting each other up. It was a great way to end the day with a big come-from-behind win to snag the third-place spot in a very tough No. 1 doubles flight in the Badger South this year.”
The rest of the Cheesemakers weren’t quite so lucky.
“Our other matches didn't have much luck in the first round,” Bordner said. “Our only other truly close match was in the #1 singles flight in the consolation bracket. Ryan Mathiason faced off with Fort Atkinson's #1 and played a steady match losing 5-8 in an 8 game pro-set.”
Bordner is optimistic about his program’s future, given the widespread youth in the ranks.
“I think just getting a lot of these underclassmen experience in a big tournament like this was nice. I think we definitely have one of the youngest teams I've seen in a while in the Badger and just continuing to improve and have a growth-mindset has guided the season for most of our players. The improvement is there, I just really think a lot of our guys need to keep playing as they are on the cusp of being much more competitive,” Bordner said.
