Up until now, the only blemish for the Cazenovia girls tennis team in 2016 came against Oneida – and it cured that blemish in the most complete way possible.
It was the no. 3 seed Lakers knocking off the top-seeded Indians 4-3 in Friday’s Section III Class B team tournament final at Utica Parkway Courts, keyed by a dramatic comeback by Annaka Bruno and Lizzy Druke on the doubles side.
When they had first met Sept. 13, Oneida had prevailed, 5-2, and went on to an undefeated regular season. Cazenovia, meanwhile, had gone 12-1, hoping to get another shot at the Indians, and earning it when it edged no. 2 seed Christian Brothers Academy 4-3 in Wednesday’s sectional semifinals.
Once they got to Utica, it didn’t take long for Oneida to secure the first point of the afternoon. In second singles, Lauren Skibitski defeated Lucy Langan in straight sets 6-0, 6-2.
Cazenovia got even in second doubles when Meg Milmoe and Summer Steinhorst defeated E Marshall and C Brown 6-4, 6-4, and then took a 2-1 lead thanks to Julia Barrett’s 6-2, 6-3 sweep over Sydney Lusher in third singles.
Up in first singles, Alex Galle fought hard, but lost, 6-4, 6-4, to Brianna Laureti, who pulled the Indians back even 2-2, setting up all of the doubles drama.
Lucy and Laura Connor led early in first doubles, taking the first set 6-3, but Oneida’s Anna Hood and Kylie Chesebro tied it, 6-2, in the second set and survived a third-set tie-breaker 7-4 to secure the Indians’ third point.
Now it was up to Bruno and Druke, playing third doubles, to keep the Lakers alive, and they lost the first set, 7-6 (7-3) to Molly Moyer amd Madeline Tallman, and faced another tie-breaker in the second set.
But Bruno and Druke, a handful of points from defeat, pulled out that tie-breaker, 7-5, and went on to defeat Moyer and Tallman 6-2 in the third set, and again Cazenovia and Oneida were even, this time at three points apiece.
Only the fourth doubles match remained, but the Lakers conquered it, and won the sectional championship, when Abby Burrell and Julie Silverman beat Mattie Hicks and Meghan Friske in two sets 6-4, 6-4.
The two sides got to that final in vastly different manners. Oneida shut out Whitesboro 7-0 in one semifinal, while Cazenovia had to endure all kinds of drama in singles to survive its duel with CBA in the other semifinal.
Each of the four doubles matches got decided in straight sets. Bruno and Druke got Cazenovia on the board, topping Karen Simone and Isabella Mead 6-1, 6-4, while Burrell and Silverman worked past Sloane Nicoletti-Watson and Meredith Strott 7-5, 6-3.
CBA countered with wins in the top two doubles divisions. Lucy and Laura Connor ran into Rena Steele and Alison Croucher and took a 6-3, 6-1 defeat, while Milmoe and Steinhorst had a 6-4, 7-5 defeat to Grace Coyne and Aubrey Mills.
So the match would get decided by which side would prevail in singles. Cazenovia’s margin for error vanished when Langan lost, 6-2, 6-2, to Mikayla Santulli. Worse yet, Barrett and Galle fell behind in their respective matches.
Somehow, it all worked out for the Lakers. Barrett shook off her 6-2 first-set defeat to conquer CBA’s Anna Sasser 6-2, 6-2 in the other two sets. Even more dramatic was Galle losing the first set 6-3 against Grace DelPino and going to a second-set tie-breaker, but pulling it out, 7-4, and then beating DelPino 6-3 in the third set for the clinching point.
