Sure, it got closer, but for the 20th consecutive year, the Fayetteville-Manlius girls tennis team claimed the Section III Class A championship.
The Hornets earned its 313th consecutive win in Wednesday’s Class A final at the Mott Tennis Center in Utica, holding off Baldwinsville 4-3, the same margin by which it got past the Bees back on Sept. 7.
As that was going on, Jamesville-DeWitt earned the Class B team title, capping its own undefeated season with a 5-2 victory over another undefeated side, Oneida.
When F-M and B’ville first played, it had come down to a first singles match where the Hornets’ Sienna Susko was down two match points to the Bees’ Kahlei Reisinger, but came back to prevail in a third-set tie-breaker. Then Susko beat Reisinger again in the Division I singles semifinals on Oct. 8, also in three sets.
But they didn’t have a third encounter. Instead, Susko teamed with Alexandra Millimaci in first doubles, and the pair defated Taylor Ferrari and Natalie Kot 6-4, 6-0, a crucial point in the early going.
F-M, in fact, would go 3-1 in doubles. Laurin Goldberg, teaming with Jessie Guarino, routed Madeline Fiello and Katherine Schumacher 6-0, 6-1. Lyndsey Rand and Katie Roche took a bit longer, but also prevailed, claiming a 7-5, 6-2 decision over Emma Funicello and Hannah Mautz.
With that, the Hornets only needed one point in singles, and got it from Shirley Zhang, who beat Taylor Slink 6-4, 6-0, which made up for Meaghan Creamer falling to Reisinger 6-0, 6-0, with Allison Donella losing to Amari Pollard 6-4, 6-2. Maggie Bonomo and Madison Jordan fell to Lauren Dusse and Maggie Quilter 6-2, 6-1.
J-D was trying to topple an Oneida team that was 22-0, carrying a perfect mark through the Tri-Valley League and two tournament rounds. The Red Rams, with its own 12-0 mark, also made changes to its lineup, which proved quite effective against the Indians.
In first doubles, Kyrin Pollock, normally a singles player, combined with Hannah Stefl, and they took out Emily Fitzgerald and Samantha Lusher 6-2, 6-0. Another point came from Elena Marchetti-Bowick and Samantha Williams, who gained a 6-4, 6-2 victory over Claire Mancarella and Jenna Russ.
Up in singles, Rea Puka, the sectional Division II champion, had a great battle with Oneida’s Connie Froass, but won in straight sets 6-4, 7-5, meaning J-D only needed one more point for the title.
Karley Platenik supplied that clinching point, shaking off a 7-5 defeat to Rachel Markle in the first set and taking the next two sets by decisive margins of 6-1 and 6-0. Elise Catania staged her own comeback, beating Jenna Didio 3-6, 6-2, 7-5.
Otherwise, Adriana Sotolongo and Isabella Melton had a 6-0, 7-5 defeat to Kasia Kinsella and Jillian Broddock, with Alison Semmel and Samantha Mignacca going to a third set, and to darkness, before losing to Lexi Skibitski and Emilee Lanz 7-5, 4-6, 5-4.
To reach the final, F-M dismissed Christian Brothers Academy 7-0 in last Monday’s semifinal round. Zhang and Meghan Macri each won 6-0, 6-0 singles matches, while Millimaci handled Mikayla Santulli 6-2, 6-1.
In doubles, each of the matches was closer, but F-M swept them. Goldberg and Guarino took out Jenna Bartolotti and Shannon Fitch 6-4, 6-2, while Creamer and Donella got past Evie Lopoo and Olivia Rotondo 6-2, 6-4.
Elsewhere, Rand and Roche had a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Sarah Roberts and Elizabeth Sasser, while Bonomo and Shanno Fullam worked past Anna Kambhampaty and Trisha Maini 6-3, 6-3.
In the Class B semifinal, J-D got past Mexico 5-2, with the highlight a close doubles match where Marchetti-Bowick and Williams, down a set and forced into a second-set tie-breaker, rallied to beat Samantha Hillman and Kelsi Simpeliar 5-7, 7-6, 6-1.
The Red Rams swept all three singles matches as Puka, Catania and Platenik all won, Platenik getting through the closest match as she beat Mariya Pawlikowski 6-4, 6-3. Pollock went to doubles, teaming with Stefl to beat Brooke Wills and Jamie Wallace by those same scores.
On Saturday, the state qualifier begins in singles and doubles, to see who gets to the Nov. 3-5 state tournament at Tri-City Tennis Center in Latham, near Albany.
