EAST TROY — Monroe’s No. 1 doubles team of Grace Tostrud and Jensen Christensen saw their season come to an end at the WIAA Division 2 East Troy Sectional Oct. 3. The duo lost to Waukesha Catholic Memorial’s Maragaret Diedrich and Riley Teuteberg 6-3, 6-2.
Diedrich and Teuteberg took fourth place in the sectional. Christensen and Tostrud, both juniors, end their season with a 16-10 record.
“Grace and Jensen fell to a solid doubles team from Catholic Memorial,” Monroe coach Matt Bordner said. “It was definitely a match where both of them know they could have played better.”
The Monroe tandem, which is still holding out hope for a special state qualifier, came out strong and led 3-2 in the first set but then simply lost their rhythm, according to Bordner.
“They missed shots I’ve seen them hit hundreds of times this year, which is something that just happens sometimes,” Bordner said. “I am so proud of these two and they still have a shot at state. They’ve worked hard for it. Almost every day after practice these two stay and hit and always want more. Either way, I’m proud of their accomplishments this season and feel really excited about their future as tennis players next year. It was an exciting season.”
To get to the sectional, the two Cheesemakers won their match against Edgerton 6-2, 6-1 as the No. 2 seed at the Whitewater subsectional the day before. The subsectional was pushed back a day due to rain.
The rest of Monroe’s lineup lost at the subsectional, with the second-best run of the day coming from the No. 2 doubles team of Becky Thoman and Samm Huizenga, which knocked off Whitewater 6-4, 6-2 and had Jefferson on the ropes before losing 6-4, 6-7 (5), 0-6. According to Bordner, the score in the second set was 5-4 in favor of the third-seeded Monroe, but the duo couldn’t finish off Jefferson’s Jenna Dinkel and Lizzie Meyers, the second seed, and advance to sectionals.
“The score says everything. They won a very tight first set, and just couldn’t close out that second set,” Bordner said. “You have to give credit to Jefferson’s girls for continuing to battle. They took the tiebreaker and that really mentally deflated Samm and Becky. (We) played a lot of tennis today and I know they wanted a different result, but they came up just short. I give them a lot of credit, they had the No. 2 seed in Jefferson, who was 20-4 on the year, with their back against the wall and about took them down.”
At No. 3 doubles, Monroe’s Jessa Lucas and Kerstin Miller also lost to a team from Jefferson, this time 7-5, 6-4.
“Jessa and Kerstin both did some good things but a few too many unforced errors cost them some important points. I’m proud of how they battled. Really all year long, I never saw these two give up on a match and today was no exception,” Bordner said.
All four of Monroe’s singles lost.
“At No. 1 singles, Emma (Towne) played the No. 2 seed from McFarland really tough,” said Bordner. Towne lost 6-3, 6-3. “In that second set, Emma was up 3-2 and had a lot of positive momentum. This was by far the best tennis I’ve seen her play, and the battle between these two opponents was great. For Emma’s first year competing a No. 1 singles, I think we finished off in a great way and have some real good things to build on for next year. It’ll be nice to have her back next year and she’ll only get better.”
Bordner said that it was unfortunate for the rest of his singles players to have the results all season that they had. Monroe came into the year with a lack of experienced players and many players were thrust into playing levels above their skill set.
“I think our singles players all probably played a flight higher than they should really be at this year, but it’s tough when you don’t have a ton of varsity experience on a team. We’ve got three of our four current singles players returning next year though, which will help,” Bordner said.
