All season long, Baldwinsville girls tennis star Brooke Tutor had proven herself one of the strongest singles players in Central New York.
Now, Tutor would set out to back up all of those strong claims, starting with a run to the championship of last week’s Section III Division I tournament.
Only the top four finishers in singles and doubles would advance to the following week’s state qualifier, and Tutor, with the top seed, had a first-round bye.
Thus, only a win in the quarterfinals was needed, and Tutor attained it with a swift 6-1, 6-1 sweep over Fayetteville-Manlius’ Phoebe Wang.
Not content with that effort, Tutor went up against Wang’s Hornets teammate, Anna Manta, in a tough semifinal, flourishing in the middle rounds, but losing in three sets 7-6, 1-6, 6-3.
Manta had just denied B’ville’s Alina Minkova her own berth in the state qualifier. Back in the first round, Minkova had defeated Liverpool’s Gianna LaValle 6-3, 6-2, but Manta stopped her in a 6-2, 6-4 quarterfinal match, and then held off Tutor before beating Central Square’s Erin McCarthy in the finals in straight sets Thursday afternoon.
B’ville also had two doubles teams in the sectional Division I tournament. Both would get within one match of reaching the state qualifier.
Lauren Devine and Paige Tromblee beat Alexis Calkins and Anna Streeter (Auburn) 6-3, 6-4, in the round of 16, but in the quarterfinals ran into F-M’s powerhouse tandem of Katerina Atallah and Maggie Bonomo, taking a 6-0, 6-0 loss.
Meanwhle, Allison Delaney and Emily Faldeau got through a 6-4, 6-2 match against Brittney Schill and Victoria Tyrrell (Central Square) in the round of 16, yet found little traction in the quarterfinals against West Genesee’s Mikayla Mannara and Katie Viau, losing in straight sets 6-1, 6-0.
Starting on Tuesday, Tudor will compete in the state qualifier at Drumlins, needing to win three matches to advance to the Oct. 27-29 state tournament at Latham.
