Ever since 1992, the Fayetteville-Manlius girls tennis team has not lost a single Section III dual match.
But the Hornets’ amazing run nearly ended in last Thursday’s 2008 season opener against Baldwinsville, where it held on to beat the Bees 4-3 simply because it swept all four doubles matches.
Twice, F-M had to rally for points. Katie Muller and Virginia Steigerwald lost the first set to Amari Pollard and Nicole Leader, but came back to win 4-6, 6-1, 6-3. Just the same, Caitlin Welker and Shelby Smith toppled Kelli Meardell and Sarah Mitchell 3-6, 6-4, 6-3.
Having an easier time of it, Alex Vizgaitis and Bridget Welker routed Addie Schmidt and Rachel Taylor 6-1, 6-0, while Cara Yinger and Carly Romano got a 6-2, 6-4 victory over Kelly Falconer and Lauren Mautz.
Up in singles, Allison Vizgaitis started strong, but fell to Bri Pollard 1-6, 6-4, 6-2, while Lauren Schaefer took a 5-7, 6-4, 6-2 loss to Calli Nizamis. Maria Mintskovsky fell to Becky Guzzo 6-2, 6-1.
As this was going on, CBA earned a key early-season victory in the OHSL Liberty division, toppling Westhill 6-1.
Olivia Messineo routed Katie Piazza 6-0, 6-0. In three sets, and two games from defeat, Emily Norkett rallied past Danielle Connor 5-7, 7-5, 6-2. Shilpa Kamani needed a great third set to beat Abby Alydon 7-5, 5-7, 6-3.
Going 3-1 in doubles, CBA had Julie Thompson-Basha and Lauren Mastronni stage its own comeback in a 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 win over Kelly Riley and Danielle Almonte. Laura Blueman and Alex Horwitch got past Caroline Jannett and Carolyn Nanno 7-6 (7-3), 6-4. Colleen Cavanaugh and Melina Martino toppled Lauren Walters and Molly Hubert 6-1, 6-4.
Jamesville-DeWitt opened with a 7-0 sweep of Mexico. Priya Gupta, Allyson Chalken and Joanna Wu all won their singles matches in straight sets, dropping just four games between them. The doubles teams of Claire Mooney-Cassie Spencer, Katie Cieplicki-Emily Luckette, Anne Phillips-Kathryn Hill and Stella Min and Abby Andrews also prevailed in two sets apiece.
Only Manlius-Pebble Hill hit a sour opening note on Thursday, falling to Skaneateles 6-1, the lone point coming when Christina Douglas beat Alexa Campanile 6-2, 6-1.
