In the sectional portion, Heyn and Theberge met the Fayetteville-Manlius tandem of Jessica Guarino and Caitlin Welker in the semifinals. After a loss in the first set, Heyn and Theberge evened it up and, in a third-set tie-breaker, knocked off Guarino and Welker 3-6, 6-3, 7-6.
This led to the final against another F-M duo, Rhianno Iorio and Carly Romano. Again, the Wildcats’ pair lost the first set and, again, they rallied, this time not needing a tie-breaker at the end in a 5-7, 6-2, 6-2 victory.
Now they moved to the state qualifier, which began Thursday at Drumlins. Heyn and Theberge were the no. 2 seed in doubles.
The Wildcats’ pair started out by beating Tracy O’Hern and Stephanie Patterson (Canastota) 6-0, 6-1. The quarterfinal proved tougher, but Heyn and Theberge got past Natlie Antosh and Katie Cieplicki (Jamesville-DeWitt) 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, putting them within one victory of advancing to the state tournament.
But when Iorio and Romano avenged their sectional finals defeat in a 6-0, 6-3 sweep, Heyn and Theberge had to beat Utica-Notre Dame’s duo of Allison Jones and Elizabeth Buckley in the third-place match to advance.
In straight sets, Heyn and Theberge won 6-3, 6-2, and by doing so will now play in the state tournament that starts Saturday at Eastside Racquet Club in Manlius and runs through Monday.
Marcellus had three different players reach the Division III semifinal round at Gold’s Gym Liverpool. In singles, Daniela Henle, an exchange student from Germany, took a 6-1, 6-0 defeat to CBA’s Olivia Messineo.
Meanwhile, in doubles Emily Hennigan and Renee Poullott ended up against the CBA tandem of Becky Scullin and Shilpa Kamani, also falling in that round by scores of 6-3 and 6-1.
In the state qualifier, Antosh and Cieplicki eliminated Hennigan and Poullott in straight sets 6-3, 6-2. Meanwhile, Henle took an early lead in her singles match against Liverpool’s Kristina Monahkova, but could not hold on in a 2-5, 6-4, 6-2 defeat.
