BARABOO — The Cheesemakers were blanked at the Badger West Conference Tournament Sept. 24. Monroe’s last two matches slated for Sept. 27 and 28 were duals against Edgerton and Fort Atkinson. WIAA Subsectionals are slated for Oct. 3 at DeForest.
“Unfortunately, we had quite a few tough seeds in the tournament which led to really challenging matchups,” Monroe coach Matt Bordner said. “Dropping some of the tight matches earlier in the season hurts when you get to seeding time, as we saw a lot of No. 7 vs. 2-seed matchups and No. 6 vs. 3.
“Nonetheless, our girls went in with good attitudes and tried to focus on what they could control in their matches. I think we are still seeing improvement this late into the season which is great and I’m really excited to finish off with a good week this week heading into Subsectionals in October.”
At No. 1 singles, Kylie Miller lost to Sauk Prairie’s Quinlyn Mack 6-1, 6-0. Alicia Brunton lost at No. 2 singles by the same score, while Bella Brunton was blanked 6-0, 6-0 at No. 3 singles, as was Vaughn Baker at No. 4 singles.
In the doubles department, Monroe’s Sydnee Conway and Lydia Setterstrom fell 6-0, 6-1 in the top flight, while Melena Brunton and Morgan Johnson dropped a 6-1, 6-2 match at No. 2 doubles.
In the closest match of the day, Monroe’s No. 3 doubles tandem of Allison Wunschel and Bre Giasson were defeated 5-7, 6-2, 10-5.
“Our best match of the tournament came from No. 3 doubles, as Bre and Allison had a rematch against the Sauk team they had narrowly lost to earlier in the week. It was again another match that we had our chances in, but just finding ways to close out those important points has been tough for our team this season. We continue to work at it and I think mentally we are in a better place, so hopefully come post-season play we can use all of that experience to pull through in close matches,” Bordner said.
CROSS COUNTRY
Multiple Cheesemakers PR at annual Midwest Invitational
JANESVILLE — The Cheesemakers finished 22nd of 44 teams in the boys race at the annual Midwest Invitational in Janesville Sept. 25. The Monroe girls were 31st.
“Both boys and girls had a lot of season best times so it’s exciting to see them getting into race shape,” Monroe coach Scott Mosher said. “This meet is always a fun experience because of its size and quality of teams it brings in, not just from Wisconsin but from the Midwest and even a team from Texas comes to it each year.”
Lucas Sathoff finished the race 40th overall with a time of 16:33.5. Heath Huschitt was 101st at 17:22.0. Jared Batz (129th) came in at 17:34.7, with Zander Slack (145th) at 17:44.0 and Anthony Wels (180th) 18:17.7.
“Lucas Sathoff improved by over a minute from last week. More important than his time was that he competed with and beat runners from other teams that were beating him earlier in the year,” Mosher said. Huschitt, Slack and Batz all ran personal best times, Mosher said.
On the girls side, Sierra McGuire was 95th overall at 20:52.3, followed by Alyssa Roelli (130th) at 21:21.7. Also scoring for Monroe were Ximena Miranda (185th, 22:12.0), Kaitlyn Elgin (198th, 22:39.6) and Katrina Sathoff (22nd, 23:46.9). Elery Bazley (25:13.9) and Marlies Brandli (25:29.9) finished 236 and 237 overall.
“The girls also had four of their top five runners run PRs, Sierra McGuire, Alyssa Roelli, Ximena Miranda, and Kaitlyn Elgin. We’ve had solid performances from Sierra and Alyssa all year, so it was very encouraging to see Ximena and Kaitlyn step up. Along with those two, we have 4-5 other girls that could each make an impact for the varsity team this year,” Mosher said.
One thing the massive race does is separate runners by points much higher than in a typical 3-10 team meet. There were 299 runners in the varsity boys race, and 245 in the girls race.
“We competed very well but it is very tough to get a great gauge of how you compare to other teams we usually compete against. For example, 2 runners could run 20 second apart and only be separated by a point or two in a typical meet, but in a meet this size there could be 20 points or more in the same 20 second gap,” Mosher said.
NGM, Darlington girls win Fennimore meet; Albany boys win small school title
FENNIMORE — The New Glarus-Monticello girls team finished more than 8-minutes ahead of Lodi for the Large School title at the Eagle Relays Sept. 25 at Hickory Golf Course.
Lake Mills finished third in the large school races. In the small school division, Darlington edged Albany by less than 27 seconds. Lancaster was third.
On the boys side, Marian Catholic won the boys large school varsity race, with Lodi second by just 7.1 seconds. New Glarus was less than two minutes behind for third, nearly 11 minutes ahead of Lake Mills.
Albany’s boys team finished 17 seconds ahead of Darlington in the small school standings. Fennimore was third, followed by Pecatonica-Argyle just 64 seconds later. Cashton was fifth and Lancaster sixth.
VOLLEYBALL
Monroe falls to Edgewood, goes 1-3 at Wis. Heights Invitational
MONROE — The Cheesemakers were swept by Edgewood 25-17, 25-14, 25-18 Sept. 23, then went 1-3 at the Wisconsin Heights Invitational two days later.
Against Edgewood, Lydia Butler had three aces and three kills, while Madyson Davis added two aces.
At the Wisconsin Heights Invitational, Monroe lost to Brodhead 25-11, 25-11, then knocked off Cambridge 17-25, 26-24, 15-8 before losing to Dodgeville 25-18, 25-15 and Lancaster 25-13, 25-13.
Brodhead 3, Whitewater 0
BRODHEAD — The Cardinals swept the Whippets 25-19, 25-18, 25-18 on Sept. 23.
Abbie Dix had 26 kills to lead Brodhead. She also had two blocks. Addison Yates finished the night with nine kills. Alexis Kammerer had 29 assists and 14 digs. Kaidynce Bevars had 17 digs and four aces to lead the Cardinals, while Daisy Nelson added a block.
Barneveld 3, Albany 0
ALBANY — Brianna Dahl had nine kills, 12 digs and two blocks for the Comets, which lost to the Eagles 25-16, 25-19, 25-17 on Sept. 23.
Anna Ellinger had four kills for Albany, with Rachel Wildt notching four aces. Payton Firth dished out three assists and Myah Johnson added two blocks.
