BARABOO — The Cheesemakers finished third at the Badger West Tournament in Baraboo May 20. 

“We had a really successful day as a team. It is really pretty amazing coming from a winless team last year. I can’t say enough about how proud I am of these guys and I’m excited to see how they perform in subsectionals,” said Matt Bordner, Monroe’s coach. Subsectionals were scheduled for May 23 at Portage, with those advancing to sectionals playing May 25 at East Troy.

In the conference tournament, Monroe started out the first round winning all seven first-round matches. Bordner said one big early wins on the day came via freshman Matthew Setterstrom, who defeated Reedsburg’s Anthony Buss at No. 1 singles, 6-1, 6-1.

“Matthew had lost to him earlier in the season in a match that didn’t end up being super close. This was a huge win for him to show his growth and how well he can play,” Bordner said.

The second round was much tougher for Monroe. While all seven matchers were close, the Cheesemakers lost each one.

“Ryan Mathiason played a really tight 2nd round match with Oregon and I was so proud of how he battled through some adversity and almost pulled out that match,” Bordner said.

Monroe fared better in the third and fourth place matchups. The Cheesemakers had four third-place finishes, and three fourth places. Mathiason and Max Petitjean were third at No. 2 and No. 4 singles. Monroe’s No. 2 doubles tandem of Ethan Towne and Wes Saunders were third, as were the No. 3 doubles pairing of Dante Giordano and Mitch Ferguson.

Fourth place finishers were Setterstrom at No. 1 singles, Gavin Eckerman at No. 3 singles, and Aaron Roidt and Chris Giasson at No. 1 doubles.

Oregon was the tournament champion, with Edgewood second.