Even with a defeat to Fayetteville-Manlius thrown in the middle, it was still a great opening week for the Liverpool girls tennis team.
First, there was the Aug. 28 victory in the Oneida Tournament over three different foes. Then, right before Labor Day weekend, the Warriors got the best of archrival Cicero-North Syracuse, prevailing over the Northstars 6-1.
All four of the doubles matches went in Liverpool’s favor. Valerie Morgans and Megan Blake got it going with a 6-3, 7-5 victory over Jenna Wilson and Vanessa Luangaphay. Crystal Morgans and Gabby Underwood followed up by handling Danielle Dottler and Cara Temple 6-0, 6-2.
Eleni Ioannidis and Diana Kozenyatko paired up in third doubles, getting through a first-set tie-breaker and handling Alexa Kulah and Lexi Pyke 7-6 (7-5), 6-2, while Gibbs and Aryanna Davia prevailed, 6-4, 6-3, over Kulah and Spivak.
Moving up to singles, C-NS notched its lone point when Nicole Perrigo survived a long battle with Erin Chambrone to prevail 7-5, 5-7, 6-4. Julie Schewe, in first singles, won her showdown with Ava Breitbeck 6-3, 6-4, while Giana LaValle got a 6-2, 6-2 win over Miranda Szwej.
Both teams were off until last Wednesday afternoon, when Liverpool prevailed again, shutting out Syracuse East 7-0 as C-NS fell to Baldwinsville 6-1.
Schewe beat Syracuse East’s Eve Llanos 6-0, 7-5 to start the Warriors’ singles efforts. Chambrone topped Meiling Le 6-2, 6-2, with LaValle getting a 6-0, 6-0 victory over Kham Hpai. In the closest doubles matches, Blake and Morgans beat Nyuy Pham and Kelly Hunyh 6-3, 6-2, with Gibbs and Davia topping Marian DelValle and Julie Nguyen 6-2, 6-2.
C-NS played Baldwinsville fairly close, but only notched a point in doubles, where Spivak and Anna Dwyer needed three sets to rally past Riley Warren and Jessica Rush 3-6, 7-5, 10-8. The Bees won the other three doubles matches in straight sets.
Twice, singles matches went to three sets. Breitbeck started strong, but could not keep it up in a 1-6, 6-3, 6-4 defeat to Alina Miknova, while much the same thing happened to Temple as she lost to Hannah Gold 2-6, 6-4, 6-3.
And now C-NS had to deal with powerhouse Fayetteville-Manlius on Friday and, despite some fine efforts, could not pluck a point from the Hornets in a 7-0 defeat.
Breitbeck had the best chance in singles, but dropped a first-set tie-breaker and fell to Keara Polovick 7-6, 6-3. Perrigo fell to Phoebe Wang 6-3, 6-1, with Costello taking a 6-1, 6-0 loss to Anna Manta. The closest of the four doubles matches had Dottler and Temple falling to Martha Welker and Patrice Calancie 6-1, 6-3.
Liverpool, meanwhile, took its shot at Baldwinsville, and were one set from a major victory before the Bees rallied to pull out a 4-3 decision. In singles, Kozenyatko was impressive in beating Gold 6-2, 6-2, though Underwood lost to Minkova 6-4, 6-4 and Chambrone fell to Brooke Tutor 6-2, 6-0.
Twice in doubles, the Warriors won in three sets as the Morgans sisters got past Allison Delaney and Emily Faldeau 6-3, 0-6, 6-2, while Blake and Schewe paired up to stop Paige Tromblee and Lauren Devine 6-2, 3-6, 6-3. Needing one more point, the Warriors saw Davia and LaValle lead early, but not hang on in a 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 defeat to Blake and Taylor Tripodi.
