During the annual three-way girls tennis tournament held last Tuesday at Chittenango, Cazenovia had a head-to-head meeting with the Bears and prevailed by a 5-2 margin in the opening round.
In single-set matches to 10 games, the Lakers swept all three singles events. Kelly Furlong blanked Brittany Geiler 10-0, with Elizabeth Palmer defeating Marie Perriello 10-2 and Sienna Lints getting past Kourtney Wilson 10-6.
The doubles matches were split. Cazenovia struck when Edie Connor and Sarah Langan held on for a 10-8 win over Samantha Bliss and Mackenzie Hall, while Ava Gurney and Vivian Wilt beat Megan Gearity and Carolyn Ledger 10-5.
Chittenango did counter with its own doubles success. Abbey Cyr and Brianna Koegel outlasted Claire Chanatry and Rebecca Marsch 11-9, while Geiler, teaming with Ashley Jackowski had a 10-7 victory over Grace Gara and Taylor Mimms.
Neither the Lakers nor Bears could beat Oneida, though. In the tournament final, Cazenovia fell 4-3 as the Bears fell to the Indians 5-2.
The Lakers’ match with the Indians saw another Cazenovia singles sweep. Palmer handled Emily Fitgerald 6-2, 6-1 and Furlong blanked Jillian Brodock 6-0, 6-0, with Lints going to a third-set tie-breaker to get past Brodock 5-7, 6-1, 7-6.
But Oneida won every doubles match in straight sets, the closest coming when Gurney and Vitt lost to Samantha Lusher and Jenna Russ 7-5, 6-4.
In the Bears’ case, again doubles provided the points. Erika Burghardt and Lauren Malloy routed Emily Lanz and Claire Mancarella 10-2, with Cyr and Koegel edging Samantha Lusher and Jenna Ross 11-9. Bliss and Hall lost, 10-8, to Marianthi Doucus and Emily Fitzgerald.
Before all this, the Lakers smothered Jordan-Elbridge 7-0 last Monday afternoon. Between them, the doubles teams of Connor-Langan, Gara-Mimms and Chanatry-Marsch lost just one game in three contested matches (one was defaulted).
Up in singles, it took just as long to render the decisions. Furlong blanked Amanda O’Brien 6-0, 6-0, with Lints pushing past Emma Stanton 6-1, 6-1. Palmer had a 6-0, 6-2 victory over Morgan Conroy.
And after the tournament in Chittenango, the Lakers blanked Manlius-Pebble Hill 7-0 on Wednesday afternoon. Lints needed to go three sets to beat Olivia Shepard 6-1, 4-6, 6-1, but every other match was won in straight sets.
Palmer and Furlong rolled to victories, while Gara and Mimms got past Christina Cerio and Scarlet Jaworski 7-5, 6-4. Gurney teamed with Natalie Roszel to beat Spencer Alexander and Aofie Andrews 7-5, 6-3.
Chittenango, meanwhile, rolled past Pulaski 7-0. Just two singles matches were contested, where Perriello beat Samantha Keeney 6-2, 6-0 and Wilson worked past Emily Fellers 6-2, 6-1.
In doubles, Hogan and Jackowski had a tough first set in a 6-4, 6-0 decision over Diamond Broissoit and Shanika Scarborough, with Millick and Milnamow topping Allie Bonanno and Kelly Bushell 6-3, 6-3. The teams of Bliss- Hall and Burghardt-Malloy lost just one game in four combined sets.
