Two long, productive decades have passed since anyone has beaten the Fayetteville-Manlius girls tennis team – and the reign just got extended for another year.
The Hornets made it 328 consecutive match victories when it turned back Auburn 6-1 in Friday’s Section III Class A tournament final at Utica Parkway Courts, sweeping all three singles matches and going 3-1 on the doubles side.
As that went on, Jamesville-DeWitt saw its run as sectional Class B team champions come to an end, along with the chance of its own undefeated season, when it fell to Oneida 5-2 in the title match, also at Utica Parkway.
In many ways, the pivotal moment of the Class A tournament took place two days earlier, in the semifinals, when Auburn, the no. 3 seed, knocked off no. 2 seed Baldwinsville 4-3, avenging a 5-2 regular-season defeat to the Bees.
F-M, meanwhile, had swept Christian Brothers Academy 7-0 in the other semifinal, and took its 329-match win streak into the championship round confident it could handle a Maroons side it beat 5-2 and 6-1 in a pair of regular-season duels.
None of the singles matches proved suspenseful. Sienna Susko roared past Jenna Jarman 6-1, 6-2, while Shirley Zhang recorded a 6-2, 6-0 victory over Celia Mattie. Kristina Liu proved quickest of all, shutting out Auburn’s Grace Bachman 6-0, 6-0.
Moving to the doubles side, two of the matches went to three sets, with Maggie Bonomo and Laurin Goldberg dropping a 5-7, 6-3, 7-5 decision to Jessica Bolak and Julia Wagner.
But Madison Jordan and Alexandra Millimaci countered with a 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 comeback win over Natalie Herlihy and Kaitlin Hlywa, whose own rally to beat B’ville’s Hannah Mautz and Katherine Schumacher in the semifinals provided the Maroons with the winning point in the semifinals.
Needing just two sets, Shannon Fullam and Abby Welker worked past Anna Spin and Sarah Wansor 7-5, 6-3, with Katerina Atallah and Mary Trop rolling to a 6-2, 6-1 sweep over Amanda Dixon and Anupama Irri in fourth doubles.
J-D, looking to repeat its 2012 sectional team title, could not quite get it done against an Oneida side that was strong in both singles and doubles play as it completed a perfect 20-0 season and ended J-D’s 16-match win streak this fall.
Elise Catania gave the Red Rams a point in first singles, easily handling Jillian Broddock 6-0, 6-1. The Indians won the other singles matches, though, as Samantha Williams fell to Jenna Russ 6-4, 6-0, with Diane Choi putting up a good battle in a 7-5, 6-2 loss to Lexi Skibitski.
In the best of the four doubles matches, J-D’s sister duo of Kyrin and Maya Pollock started fast against Oneida’s team of Jenna Didio and Samantha Lusher, and though they got pushed to a third set, the Pollocks still prevailed 6-1, 5-7, 6-4.
However, the Indians won the other three doubles matches in short order. Natalie Alweis and Karley Platenik lost to Connie Froass and Rachel Markle 6-2, 6-2, while Isabella Melton and Adrianna Sotolongo fell to Brianna Lauretti and Claire Mancarella 6-2, 6-1. Olivia Melton and Samantha Mignacca met a similar fate, taking a 6-1, 6-2 defeat to Julianna Cavanaugh and Deanna DiFabio.
