One more time, the Baldwinsville girls tennis team took aim at Fayetteville-Manlius and a win streak that had grown to 324 consecutive matches.
And while the Bees did grab some points last Tuesday afternoon, once more the Hornets proved too good, prevailing by a score of 5-2.
Kahlei Reisinger attained B’ville’s lone singles victory, shutting out Shirley Zhang 6-0, 6-0, but the duo of Adriana Speech and Marissa Tomarello both lost in straight sets – Speech to Maggie Bonomo 6-0, 6-2, Tomarello to Kristina Liu 6-0, 6-0.
B’ville’s tandem of Lauren Dusse and Taylor Slink had an impressive showing in doubles, sweeping Shannon Fullam and Abby Welker 6-4, 6-0, and the Bees had two other reasonable chances at doubles points.
However, Gabby Fiello and Maddie Quilter could not hold on to their early lead in a 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 defeat to Katerina Attalah and Mary Trop, while Taylor Ferrari and Natalie Kot made it to a first-set tie-breaker, only to lose to Madison Jordan and Sienna Susko 7-6, 6-3.
Before that second shot at F-M, the Bees first had to take on West Genesee last Monday, and that proved challenging enough as B’ville fought its way to a 4-3 victory over the Wildcats.
Reisinger got through in singles, beating Samantha Heyn 6-3, 6-2, but Speech squandered an early lead in a 5-7, 6-0, 6-3 defeat to Taylor Ginestro, with Amanda Coogan losing in straight sets to Kayla Llanos 6-4, 6-4.
But the Bees countered with a trio of straight-set doubles wins. Ferrari and Kot rolled past Rachel Gillett and Marisa Joyce 6-1, 6-1, while Hannah Mautz and Katherine Schumacher toppled Mary Frontale and Melissa Schiff 6-4, 6-2.
And though Dusse and Slink dropped a third-set tie-breaker in a 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 defeat to Morgan Nichols and Kelsey Shanahan, Fiello and Quilter had little trouble in their match, sweeping Shannon Marlatt and Abigail Thurston 6-3, 6-0.
Then came the loss to F-M, but the pair might not be done. The Bees and Hornets hold the top two seeds in the Section III Class A team tournament, and semifinal wins on Wednesday would set up one more B’ville-F-M clash in Friday’s championship round at Utica Parkway Courts.
