EAST TROY — The Monroe girls tennis team began its 2023 campaign 2-1 following a trip to East Troy on Tuesday, Aug. 15. Head coach Matt Bordner used the invite as an opportunity to experiment with his young and versatile lineup.

“Our varsity lineup lacks varsity match play experience but brought quite a bit of JV experience in, which was helpful,” Bordner said. “I feel really good about where our No. 1 through No. 3 singles are and working through what our No. 4 singles and doubles teams will look like.”

Catholic Central was an ideal first match up, as the Hilltoppers, like Monroe, lacked varsity experience. The dual was “smooth sailing,” prepping the Cheesemakers for former Badger rival Fort Atkinson-Cambridge. Monroe sought revenge, defeating the Blackhawks 5-2.

“This was a really solid team win for us,” Bordner said. “Fort got the best of us last year, and we brought in a much less experienced team this year, so it was awesome to see us take care of business.”

The singles lineup swept, highlighted by a three-set victory from No. 1 doubles player Lindsay Leuzinger, and the Cheesemakers secured at win at No. 3 doubles with Aella Mosher and Delaney Fortney.

“I think for us to keep scrapping together wins this year, we will need to certainly get some production out of our singles lineup and then try and grab a match or two out of our doubles lineup as well,” Bordner said. “This match seemed to be a good indicator of how we will have to work as a team to find wins.”

Monroe capped the invite with a 7-0 loss to host East Troy.

The Monday portion of the invite was postponed due to weather, and Bordner is skeptical it will be made up.