SYRACUSE – A fine season for Skaneateles girls tennis standout Eva DeJesus got even better with her performance in this week’s Section III state qualifying tournament.
Just by reaching the semifinals, DeJesus locked up a berth in the New York State Public High School Athletic Association championships that begins Monday at the USTA-Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Queens.
DeJesus entered the state qualifier as the no. 5 seed and got off to an impressive start, taking little time against no. 12 seed Erin McLain (Fayetteville-Manlius) in the opening round and prevailing 6-0, 6-2.
The big match, though, was the quarterfinal against the no. 4 seed, Manlius Pebble Hill’s Amitees Fazeli. A crucial first-set tiebreak went 7-4 to DeJesus and, with all the momentum from that win, beat Fazeli 6-3 in the second set to lock up her state tournament berth.
Only in the later rounds did DeJesus struggle in any way, beaten 6-1, 6-0 in the semifinals by the top seed, Jamesville-DeWitt’s Mona Farah, and then 6-2, 6-1 in the third-place match to Baldwinsville’s Alya Kalfass.
Still, DeJesus will join Farah, Kalfass and B’ville’s Mira Nadzan in the state tournament field, which other local players could not quite reach including her teammate, Addison Zieler, who lost in the first round 6-0, 6-2 to Kalfass.
Westhill had Julia Flegel in the state qualifier but she fell 6-4, 6-2 to Whitesboro’s Lauren Levitano in the opening round. In doubles, the Warriors’ tandem of Phoebe Gumaer and Samantha Burkett were the no. 6 seeds, but lost 6-0, 6-2 in their first match to J-D’s tandem of Yara Farah and Asha Viswanathan.
