MADISON - The rain didn't put a damper on the Monroe tennis team's sectional experience.
The WIAA Division 2 Whitewater sectional was moved to the University of Wisconsin's Nielsen Tennis Stadium Wednesday. That's where Monroe sophomore Taylor Soddy at No. 1 singles and the No. 1 doubles duo of Carson Root and Garrett Tschanz each qualified for state. Both Soddy and the senior No. 1 doubles tandem of Root and Tschanz finished second.
Madison Edgewood outdistanced Sauk Prairie 52-31 for the sectional title. Monroe started the day six points behind McFarland after the subsectional, but the Cheesemakers had a strong day and tied the Spartans for third (23) out of 18 teams.
"The four entries we still had alive came to play today," Monroe coach Brad Saugstad said.
Soddy defeated Michael Estrella from Wayland Academy 6-1, 6-2 to earn a place in state. Then he beat Ian Stone of Whitewater in the semifinals 6-2, 6-0. He finished up the day with a 6-2, 6-4 loss to Austin Papenthein from Madison Edgewood.
"Taylor completely took Estrella and Stone out of their games," Saugstad said. "He forced them into many mistakes and just took control of the matches. Against Papenthein, Soddy got away from his game in the first set. In the second set though, Taylor really started to hit out and pushed Papenthein. In the end though, Papenthein just proved to be too tough."
Root and Tschanz defeated Wayland Academy's No. 1 doubles team 6-2, 6-2 to qualify for state. In the semifinals they defeated Sauk Prairie's Erik Meyer and Mitch Fiene 6-3, 6-7 (5) 6-4. In the finals, they lost to Madison Edgewood's Tyler Piddington and Ben Winding 6-2, 7-6 (3).
"Carson and Garrett started the day playing pretty well against Wayland Academy and then were on fire early in the Sauk Prairie match," Saugstad said. "In the finals, Edgewood was just too good for us. They take over the net and put a lot of pressure on every shot and we just couldn't string together enough points to take the second set."
Quinten L'Yvonnet also took second place at No. 2 singles. L'Yvonnet beat Daniel Hron from Ripon 6-2, 6-3 to start the day. He then lost to Patrick Carney from Madison Edgewood 6-0, 6-0 in the championship.
"Quinten pulled a hamstring early in the first set of his championship match and he was struggling to run or push off of his right leg," Saugstad said. "It's a shame because he just lost to Carney in three sets at conference and we were all looking forward to seeing another good match."
Cristian Noriega and Jess Hager took third place at No. 2 doubles. They lost to Dustin Lang and Kevin Troestler from Sauk Prairie 6-4, 2-6, 6-4. They then won the third place match 7-5, 6-3 against Saint Mary Springs.
"Cristian and Jess played a good match against Sauk but just couldn't put away enough volleys," Saugstad said.
The WIAA Division 2 Whitewater sectional was moved to the University of Wisconsin's Nielsen Tennis Stadium Wednesday. That's where Monroe sophomore Taylor Soddy at No. 1 singles and the No. 1 doubles duo of Carson Root and Garrett Tschanz each qualified for state. Both Soddy and the senior No. 1 doubles tandem of Root and Tschanz finished second.
Madison Edgewood outdistanced Sauk Prairie 52-31 for the sectional title. Monroe started the day six points behind McFarland after the subsectional, but the Cheesemakers had a strong day and tied the Spartans for third (23) out of 18 teams.
"The four entries we still had alive came to play today," Monroe coach Brad Saugstad said.
Soddy defeated Michael Estrella from Wayland Academy 6-1, 6-2 to earn a place in state. Then he beat Ian Stone of Whitewater in the semifinals 6-2, 6-0. He finished up the day with a 6-2, 6-4 loss to Austin Papenthein from Madison Edgewood.
"Taylor completely took Estrella and Stone out of their games," Saugstad said. "He forced them into many mistakes and just took control of the matches. Against Papenthein, Soddy got away from his game in the first set. In the second set though, Taylor really started to hit out and pushed Papenthein. In the end though, Papenthein just proved to be too tough."
Root and Tschanz defeated Wayland Academy's No. 1 doubles team 6-2, 6-2 to qualify for state. In the semifinals they defeated Sauk Prairie's Erik Meyer and Mitch Fiene 6-3, 6-7 (5) 6-4. In the finals, they lost to Madison Edgewood's Tyler Piddington and Ben Winding 6-2, 7-6 (3).
"Carson and Garrett started the day playing pretty well against Wayland Academy and then were on fire early in the Sauk Prairie match," Saugstad said. "In the finals, Edgewood was just too good for us. They take over the net and put a lot of pressure on every shot and we just couldn't string together enough points to take the second set."
Quinten L'Yvonnet also took second place at No. 2 singles. L'Yvonnet beat Daniel Hron from Ripon 6-2, 6-3 to start the day. He then lost to Patrick Carney from Madison Edgewood 6-0, 6-0 in the championship.
"Quinten pulled a hamstring early in the first set of his championship match and he was struggling to run or push off of his right leg," Saugstad said. "It's a shame because he just lost to Carney in three sets at conference and we were all looking forward to seeing another good match."
Cristian Noriega and Jess Hager took third place at No. 2 doubles. They lost to Dustin Lang and Kevin Troestler from Sauk Prairie 6-4, 2-6, 6-4. They then won the third place match 7-5, 6-3 against Saint Mary Springs.
"Cristian and Jess played a good match against Sauk but just couldn't put away enough volleys," Saugstad said.
