Bad weather forced the Marcellus girls tennis team into a scenario where, if it wanted to go all the way through the Section III Class B team tournament, it would need to win four matches in as many days.
It only got halfway to that goal, but in doing so, the Mustangs still completed its fourth straight season with 11 or more victories and have gone 46-20 over that stretch.
Rain wiped out two attempts for the no. 6 seed Mustangs to play its opening-round match against no. 11 seed Cazenovia, but they finally got it done last Tuesday and Marcellus, aided by a doubles sweep, eliminated the Lakers 6-1.
Grace Hunt, picking up her 50th career win, and Mary Kate McHale, reaching career win no. 40, started the doubles rout, defeating Natalie Roszel and Vivian Wilt 6-2, 6-2. Tierney Clark also got to the 40-win mark, pairing with Audrey Cerrone to beat Anna Barrett and Jess McDonough 6-4, 6-1.
Genevieve Rao now has 30 wins, as she and Megan Charles romped past Allison Cooney and Brittany Wright 6-1, 6-1. Alex Burrows and Kaylee McVey went a bit longer, but still handled Alicia Larke and Elizabeth Riha 7-5, 6-1.
Up in singles, Haley Randall, one win from getting to the 50 mark, gained a 7-5, 6-0 decision over Edie Connor. Rickie Mixon came from behind to defeat Lucy Connor 4-6, 6-1, 6-1, while Rebekah Mullins took a 6-7 (7-5), 6-4, 10-6 defeat to Ava Gurney.
It proved much closer in Wednesday’s quarterfinal as the Mustangs ventured north to face no. 3 seed Carthage. But neither the long bus ride, nor the lack of rest, derailed Marcellus as it knocked out the Comets by a 3-2 margin.
With two points apiece, it all came down to second doubles. Charles and Rao won the first set 6-4 over Carthage’s duo of Braelie Kempney and Morgan Paige, only to drop the second set 6-4 before pulling out a tough third set in another 6-4 decision to clinch team honors.
Prior to that, Randall did reach the 50-win plateau, sweeping Hannah Millich 6-2, 6-2, only to have the Mustangs see Mixon fall to Savannah Williams 6-2, 6-1, while Mullins lost to Meaghan Paige 6-4, 6-0. In first doubles, Hunt and McHale kept rolling with a 6-3, 6-0 sweep over Taylour Campbell and Sheniah Mono.
Now the Mustangs went for three wins in three days during Thursday’s Class B semifinal – but asking to knock off undefeated no. 2 seed Jamesville-DeWitt proved too much as Marcellus took a 5-2 defeat to the Red Rams.
Hunt and McHale earned one of those points, beating Karley Platenik and Maya Pollock 6-4, 6-0, with Cerrone and Clark going to three sets and overcoming a mid-match slump to beat Isabella Melton and Adrianna Sotolongo 6-1, 0-6, 6-3.
Mullins and Rao fell to Natalie Alweis and Diane Choi 6-3, 7-5, with Burrows and White taking a 6-3, 6-3 loss to Olivia Melton and Allison Semmel. In singles, Charles got close to earning a set, but fell to Samantha Williams 6-4, 6-3, while Randall ran into Kyrin Pollock and lost 6-1, 6-0. Mixon had a 6-1, 6-2 defeat to Elise Catania.
