Right up to the last moment, the Skaneateles girls tennis team carried the dream of a second consecutive undefeated season and Section III Class B championship.
Except that Christian Brothers Academy snatched that dream away and beat the Lakers, 4-3, in a memorable Class B team final held last Tuesday at Utica Parkway Courts.
Skaneateles owned a regular-season victory over CBA from earlier in the month, but knew that the Brothers provided a fierce challenge, something that would manifest itself over the course of the long Utica afternoon.
In singles, the Lakers would only go 1-2, Hillary Fenner earning the point in a 6-4, 6-1 sweep of Colleen Cavanaugh. Amitra Deol lost to Olivia Messineo 6-2, 6-3, with Elizabeth Lane falling to Shilpa Kamani 6-3, 6-1.
Thus, Skaneateles had to get three points out of doubles — and one came when Kathryn Magee and Casey VanSlyke used a pair of tie-breakers to beat Shannon Fitch and Rebecca Scullin 7-6 (7-3), 7-6 (8-6). When Dani Alderman and Katharina Kulik lost to Taylor Procopio an Sarah Kitts 6-1, 6-3, the Lakers had to win both remaining matches.
In one three-set classic, Ryan Merle and Sidney Lawson lost the first set 6-4 to Laura Bulman and Lauren Mastroeni, but rallied to win the next two sets by those same 6-4 margins for the third Skaneateles point.
So it all hinged on a doubles classic between two terrific tandems — Katherine Hill and Megan Holleran for Skaneateles, Julie Thomson-Basha and Emily Norkett for CBA.
Hill and Holleran lost the first set 6-2 and were on the brink of a sweep when it won a second-set tie-breaker 7-3 and the set 7-6. They played to a 5-5 tie in the decisive set, but Thomson-Basha and Norkett earned a service break and won the match 7-5.