In back-to-back matches, the Cicero-North Syracuse girls tennis team earned victories by a single point.
But when the Northstars played for the third time in a 48-hour span, no tension was required as it beat rival Liverpool Wednesday afternoon by a 6-1 margin.
The key was that C-NS swept all four doubles matches, the closest coming when Jessica Francati and Brittany Wilson needed three sets to get past Leann Hofstead and Kiki Palmer 6-3, 4-6, 6-1.
Elsewhere, Richelle Brousseau and Bethany Wicks blanked Julie Pento and Megan Reilly 6-0, 6-0. Kathy Nguyen and Hannah Simmons claimed a 6-4, 6-3 decision over Sara Noll and Monica Johnson, while Melanie Nguyen and Meg Tully topped Jackie Decker and Hailey Evert 6-4, 6-2.
Up in singles, Liverpool got its lone point when Katey Padden breezed past Kristina Inthirakot 6-1, 6-4. But C-NS’s Brooke Murphy countered with a 6-2, 6-3 win over Nicolette Hamilton and Stephanie Reynolds handled Hannah Foster 6-4, 6-0.
To start this busy stretch, the Northstars used a clutch doubles performance from Francati and Wilson to secure a 3-2 victory over Rome Free Academy. They trailed early in their match against Geri Edwards and Holy Hash, only to rise up and prevail in three sets 3-6, 6-4, 7-5.
This complemented Inthirakot, who won in singles over Amanda Kekic 6-1, 6-2, and Reynolds, who routed Kristina Ciaccia 6-1, 6-0. Murphy lost to Jordan General 6-3, 6-2, as Simmons and Kathy Nguyen fell to Alexis Bravo and Lauren Iacovissi 7-6, 6-3.
Another close match followed, against Central Square on Tuesday, but a key doubles victory helped the Northstars edge the Red Hawks 4-3.
Nguyen and Simmons trailed Brianna Grimes and Madison Perkins after losing the first set 6-3. But they rolled through the second set 6-1 and, by securing the third set 7-5, clinched the team honors.
Already, Reynolds had worked her way past Hannah Kaminski 6-1, 6-4, while Francati and Wilson beat Allison Foland and Shayna Wilson by those exact same scores. Brousseau and Wicks routed Mackenzie Berg and Savannah Blandino 6-2, 6-1. In singles, Murphy led early, but could not hold it in a 4-6, 6-2, 6-4 defeat to Kelsey Thibault.
Liverpool just happened to be the opponent last Monday afternoon when Fayetteville-Manlius gave its long-time head coach, Phil Rudolph, his 400th career win in a 7-0 decision.
Twice this season, the Hornets nearly saw its epochal win streak (308 and counting) end, with 4-3 decisions against Baldwinsville and Auburn, but the Warriors could not do anything to dent Rudolph’s milestone plans.
Kristin Glor and Pauline Mabie had the closest doubles match, falling to Shannon Fullam and Madison Jordan 6-3, 6-0. In singles, the trio of Foster, Padden and Hamilton won just two games in six sets against, respectively, Sienna Susko, Meaghan Creamer and Shirley Zhang.
