On the heels of gaining the most wins in a single season, the Marcellus girls tennis team continued to blaze trails during the Section III Division III tournaments.
From a no. 3 seed, Haley Randall made her way to the singles finals. After a first-round bye, Randall won her quarterfinal match last Monday at Utica Parkway and, in the semifinals, fought past Clinton’s Samantha Makak in three sets 6-4, 4-6, 6-1.
This pitted Randall against the top seed, Cazenovia’s Elizabeth Palmer, in Tuesday’s final at Fayetteville-Manlius High School. Though Randall did get better as the match went on, Palmer still prevailed 6-1 in the first set and 6-3 in the second set.
More success was found in doubles by the Mustangs’ tandem of Renee Poullott and Emily Hennigan. After a pair of early-round conquests, Poullott and Randall ran up against Cazenovia’s Sally Langan and Edie Connor, prevailing in straight sets 6-4, 6-1.
Now at F-M, Poullott and Hennigan went up against the Skaneateles sister tandem of Grace and Kathryn Magee, whom they faced during the regular season. After losing the first set 6-4, Poullott and Hennigan dominated the second set 6-1, only to have the Magees claim the title 6-2 in the third set.
Before all this, the Magees beat Westhill’s tandem of Bridget Sherlock and Phoebe Langdon 6-4, 6-4 in the semifinal round, just as Warriors singles player Katie Ferrara got eliminated in an earlier round. Marcellus’ doubles team of Mary Kate McHale and Grace Hunt lost in the early rounds, too.
Up in Division I, West Genesee’s doubles team of Samantha Heyn and Marisa Joyce emerged as finalists from last Monday’s opening-round activity at Syracuse University.
Starting out as the no. 3 seed, Heyn and Joyce beat Baldwinsville’s duo of Hannah Mautz and Kerry Quilter 6-0, 6-0 in the opening round before rolling past Hannah Simmons and Melanie Nguyen (Cicero-North Syracuse) 6-2, 6-1 in the quarterfinals.
The semifinals turned into a three-set battle between Heyn and Joyce and no. 2 seed Jessica Guarino and Laurin Goldberg (Fayetteville-Manlius), which the Wildcats’ pair won 6-4, 1-6, 6-2, setting up the final at Liverpool on Thursday afternoon.
There, Heyn and Joyce squared off with another B’ville duo, Amari Pollard and Natalie Kot, and it would also go three sets. After losing the first set 6-4, Heyn and Joyce claimed the second set 6-2, only to drop the final set by that same 6-2 margin.
Three of WG’s doubles teams made it to the tournament, and all got through the first round. No. 7 seed Shannon Hawley and Taylor Ginestro beat Madison Perkins and Brianna Grimes (Central Square) 6-2, 6-4 in the opener, only to fall to Guarino and Goldberg 6-2, 6-0.
As for the no. 9 seed, Kayla Llanos and Theresa Clark, they beat F-M’s duo of Katie Roche and Lyndsey Rand 6-3, 6-4, but lost in the quarterfinals to Pollard and Kot 6-1, 6-0.
Marcellus played in Friday’s Class B sectional team quarterfinal, the no. 7 seed Mustangs falling to no. 2 seed Jamesville-DeWitt by a score of 5-2.
Both points came in doubles, where McHale and Hunt swept Isabella Melton and Adriana Sotolongo 6-2, 6-1, as Rebekah Mullins and Genevieve Rao were a few points from defeat, but rallied past Elena Marchetti-Bowick and Samantha Williams 3-6, 7-6, 6-3.
However, Poullott and Hennigan lost, 6-3, 6-2, to J-D’s tandem of Kyrin Pollock and Hannah Stefl, and the Mustangs lost every singles match in straight sets, including Randall falling to Division II singles champion Rea Puka 6-1, 6-1.
