By Chris Bennett
Sports Correspondent
It took too long for Andrew Brockmann and Nate Buchholtz of the Waterford Union High School boys tennis team to find their mojo on the first day of the WIAA Division 1 Boys Tennis State Individual Championships.
Brockmann and Buchholtz – Waterford’s No. 1 doubles team – lost 6-2, 7-6(7) to Sun Prairie’s Henri Blair and Taran Katta (18-8) June 1 in Madison at Nielsen Tennis Stadium.
Brockmann and Buchholtz finished the season with a record of 5-4. The two advanced to state as a special qualifier. Coach Mike Schuster said it is the first time in his more than 20 years of coaching that a flight from Waterford advanced to state under those circumstances.
The top four finishers in Flight 1 and the top finisher in Flight 2 in singles and doubles at each sectional, along with a maximum of sixteen additional singles players and doubles teams eliminated earlier in the tournament series and selected by the State Seeding Committee, advance to state.
One special qualifier – either a singles player or doubles duo – is picked for state from each sectional. Brockmann and Buchholtz advanced out of the Waukesha South sectional bracket.
Schuster said he thought Brockmann and Buchholtz settled into the match in the second set.
“Sun Prairie was a good match-up for us, and we wanted to make sure that balls were put into play early,” Schuster said. “The team struggled to do that in the first, but really made Sun Prairie earn points in the second.”
Brockmann and Buchholtz took control in the second set, and did not commit as many unforced errors. The duo trailed Sun Prairie 6-1 before rallying for a 7-6 lead.
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