CENTRAL NEW YORK – For more than a month – really, for a whole year – the Baldwinsville girls tennis team had built itself up to just the match it was playing Thursday afternoon at Utica Parkway Courts.
The Bees once again challenged Fayetteville-Manlius with the Section III Class A team championship on the line, having dropped tight 4-3 decisions to the Hornets both in the 2023 final and in this year’s regular-season encounter.
Again it would prove close, again it would end 4-3 – and again, B’ville’s championship dreams fell one point short.
Where it won, the Bees were decisive. In first singles Mira Nadzan blanked Shreya Bhattacharya 6-0, 6-0 as Ayla Kalfass worked through a tough first set but pulled away from Smareen Mangat 6-1, 6-4.
In first doubles, Sonia Nadzan and Elaina Nesbitt handled Sonia LaHaye and Sadie Toole 6-1, 6-2, meaning the Bees just needed one other point somewhere for the sectional title.
The best chances came in doubles, where Ella Clary and Carmela Budzich pushed in the first set but lost to Caitlyn McLain and Julia Kim 7-5, 6-1, while Emma Krukowski and Sophia Randolph were close in both sets but could not quite catch Anokhi and Samiya Dalal in a 6-4, 7-5 decision.
B’ville saw the other two matches get away, too, with Jasmine Rawda falling in singles to Erin McLain 6-2, 6-3 as Laine and Livia Zoanetti ran into Lindsey Chong and Mariah Sun, taking a 6-1, 6-2 defeat.
Getting to the final wasn’t too stressful, starting with last Monday’s quarterfinal round where, against no. 7 seed Auburn, the Bees blanked the Maroons 7-0.
Rawda’s tough first set did not prevent her from beating Lauren Sincebaugh 7-5, 6-1, while Kalfass and Mira Nadzan both had 6-0, 6-0 shutouts over, respectively, Alice Caruso and Ashlyn Feneck.
Though they went to three sets in doubles, Krukowski and Randolph still won 6-1, 4-6, 6-0 over Magdaline Hill and Victoria Brown as the teams of Clary-Budzich and Nesbit-Sonia Nadzan and the Zoanetti sisters both won in two sets.
The semifinal a day later pitted B’ville against no. 3 seed Rome Free Academy, and only six matches were completed – but the Bees again won all of them.
And in this case every singles match was a 6-0, 6-0 win, Kalfass beating Jolainna Sciorilli as Rawda handled Valerie Raux and Mira Nadzan took out Kali Fountain.
By the same 6-1, 6-1 margins in doubles Budzich and Clary beat Angel Lane and Melanny Olivo as Nesbitt and Sonia Nadzan rolled past Thylia Keoviengsamay and Makayla Howard. Making it two wins in as many rounds, Krukowski and Randolph topped Annika Wallace and Barbara Ciotti 6-1, 6-0.
F-M was just as dominant in its first two playoff rounds, blanking Central Square 7-0 and handling previously unbeaten Christian Brothers Academy 6-1, leading to the final everyone had anticipated – but the same, frustrating conclusion from B’ville’s perspective.
