CENTRAL NEW YORK – All of the accolades gained while putting together an undefeated regular season and earning a Salt City Athletic Conference Metro division title meant plenty to the Baldwinsville girls tennis team. But it wanted much more.
To get it, the Bees would, during the Section III Class A tournament, have to go through the toughest path possible, knocking off an unbeaten Christian Brothers Academy in the semifinals and then dynastic Fayetteville-Manlius in the championship round.
B’ville pulled it off, capping its run Thursday at Utica Parkway Courts when, securing a clinching point in fourth doubles, it defeated F-M 4-3 to lay claim to the sectional crown for the first time.
The season’s special tone was set back on Sept. 2 when B’ville defeated the long-reigning Hornets by that same 4-3 margin on its home courts, with the distinct knowledge that the two could meet again in post-season circumstances.
When they did, two points were quickly secured in singles by Mira Nadzan and Ayla Kalfass as Nadzan put away Kayla Quinn 6-0, 6-0 and Kalfass was nearly as dominant in a 6-1, 6-0 win over Samreen Mangat.
Moving to first doubles, Hannah Gould and Elaina Nesbitt also needed just two sets to put away Trisha Adavikolanu and Lina Limam 6-3, 6-3, putting the Bees within one point of the title.
F-M countered with Lindsey Chong, in third singles, beating Ella Clary 6-1, 6-0, while in doubles Reagan Doan and Julia Quinn dropped a long first-set tie-breaker to Selena Chen and Shreya Bhattacharya and lost 7-6 (12-10), 6-0.
Even with an early lead in third doubles, Livia Zoanetti and Keagan Downes could not hold on to it, falling to Caitlyn McLain and Sofia Kenney 2-6, 6-4, 6-4, so Laine Zoanetti and Eva Pawelek had to win their fourth doubles match.
After claiming the first set 6-1 over Angelina Fang and Julia Comprix, Zoanetti and Pawelek saw the F-M pair pull even by surviving a second-set tie-breaker 7-4, but with poise and confidence the Bees’ duo controlled the final set 6-1 and, with it, secured the sectional championship.
All of this was possible because the Bees first had to get past CBA in Tuesday’s semifinals. On the red-painted courts of B’ville, the hosts swept all four doubles matches on the way to a 5-2 victory over the Brothers.
Quinn and Doan had the most exciting match, rallying from a set down against CBA’s Meredith Sommers and Audrey Schaefer to take it 4-6, 6-0, 6-3.
Nesbitt and Gould handled Grace Catalano and Hana Kang 6-3, 6-4, with Downes and Livia Zoanetti beating Clare Schaefer and Maddie Kanerviko 6-2, 6-4. Pawelek and Laine Zoanetti won 6-4, 6-2 over Jane Walsh and Julie Zdep.’
Up in singles, Nadzan fell to Giselle Vlassis 6-1, 6-0, with Clary taking a 6-3, 6-3 loss to Allie Mancini, but Kalfass gained another point for B’ville when she beat Rowan Doyle 6-1, 6-4.
B’ville had tuned up by facing East Syracuse Minoa in a non-league match where it breezed to a 6-1 victory over the Spartans.
Between them, Nadzan, Kalfass and Clary lost just one game in six sets of singles play. The doubles teams of Nesbitt-Gould and Quinn-Doan also won with ease, though Downes and Livia Zoanetti worked through two close sets before beating Angelina Baxter and Gianna Brilbeck 6-3, 6-4.
