During a full week of post-season competition involving many local girls tennis players, Marcellus would see its top singles player, Haley Randall, win the Section III Division II championship by rolling in straight sets against all of her tournament opponents.
Randall, the no. 2 seed in singles, had an easy time of it in her early rounds at Utica’s Mott Courts, routing Angela Krause (Skaneateles) 6-1, 6-0 in the quarterfinals and then shutting out Mexico’s Kristen Albright 6-0, 6-0 in the semifinals.
And that led to Thursday’s final at Liverpool High School against another Skaneateles opponent, Katelyn Ellison. They had split their regular-season meetings, but here Randall would rule, taking the first set 6-3 and clinching the title with a 6-4 victory in the second set.
Moving to Division III doubles, the Mustangs’ team of Grace Hunt and Mary Kate McHale, also a no. 2 seed, survived a pair of three-set matches to get to the championship round.
After dismissing Jordan-Elbridge’s Sam Bates and Amber Corgnell 6-0, 6-0, Hunt and McHale got pushed to a third set in a 6-3, 4-6, 6-0 decision over the Skaneateles duo of Liz Belinski and Alaina Davis. Then it fell behind Cazenovia’s Edie and Lucy Connor in the semifinals before rallying to pull out a 4-6, 6-4, 6-1 victory.
This set up yet another Marcellus-Skaneateles sectional final, as Clark and McHale ran into Makenzi Herbst and Grace Magee, whom they beat in one of two head-to-head matches this fall. Here, though, Herbst and Magee dominated the match, prevailing 6-0, 6-2.
Elsewhere, Audrey Cerrone and Tierney Clark handled Claire Lashinger and Esther Mazor (Clinton) 6-2, 6-3 in the round of 16, but fell one round short of the state qualifier, unable to hold an early lead in a 2-6, 6-4, 6-2 loss to South Jefferson’s Elisabeth Roberts and Austin Stevens.
And the same thing happened to Genevieve Rao and Rebekah Mullins, who won a 7-5, 7-5 match over Amanda Brouty and Sydney Warmington (General Brown) in its opening-round match, and ran into Herbst and Magee in the quarterfinals, taking a 6-1, 6-0 defeat.
Also for Marcellus, Rickie Mixon and Megan Charles both lost opening-round matches – Mixon to Shannon Cherpak (Clinton) 4-6, 6-0, 7-5, Charles to Olivia Gage (Skaneateles) 6-0, 6-3.
Jordan-Elbridge picked up its first sectional tournament win in a long while when Morgan Conroy and Emma Stanton, trailing early, rallied and, in a third-set tie-breaker, edged Natalie Roszel and Vivian Wilt (Cazenovia) 2-6, 6-1, 7-6. Conroy and Stanton then lost to Herbst and Magee by the same 6-1, 6-0 scores that Mullins and Rao did.
West Genesee’s tandem of Samantha Heyn and Marisa Joyce had the top seed for the sectional Division I tournament. After a day to wait out rain, they started action last Tuesday, and Heyn and Joyce did not drop a set in any of the three matches that day.
In the round of 16, Heyn and Joyce nearly blanked Central square’s Erin McCarthy and Shayna Wilson, prevailing 6-0, 6-1. That led to the quarterfinals against Hannah Mautz and Katherine Schumacher (Baldwinsville), which ended in the same manner with a 6-0, 6-1 victory.
WG’s duo of Taylor Ginestro and Kayla Llanos also made it to the semifinals. From a no. 4 seed, Ginestro and Llanos turned back Katie Knopp and Molly Malone (Oswego) 6-3, 6-4 in the opening round, and proved more impressive in the quarterfinals as they beat Richelle Brousseau and Bethany Wicks (Cicero-North Syracuse) 6-2, 6-1.
The only problem for Ginestro and Llanos was that it brought them into a semifinal against their WG teammates. Heyn and Joyce got a battle, but still won 6-4, 7-6 to set up Thursday’s final at Liverpool against the Fayetteville-Manlius duo of Laurin Goldberg and Sienna Susko.
And that turned into a classic. Heyn and Joyce won the first set 6-4, only to drop the second set by that same margin. The third set tied at 6-6 and went to a long tie-breaker, but two points from the title, Heyn and Joyce were thwarted as Goldberg and Susko prevailed 9-7.
Another Wildcat duo, Mary Frontale and Morgan Nichols, did not make it out of the opening round, falling to Liverpool’s Alexandra Ionaiddis and Katelyn Nguyen by scores of 6-3 and 6-4.
So WG’s quartet of Heyn, Joyce, Ginestro and Llanos, along with Randall, Hunt and McHale from the Marcellus side, would go to the Section III state qualifier, looking to finish in the top three and advance to the Nov. 2-4 state tournament at the Tri-City Tennis Center in Latham.
In Saturday’s early rounds at Syracuse University’s Skytop Courts, Heyn and Joyce, the no. 2 seeds in doubles, beat Hunt and McHale 6-4, 6-1, and then topped Oneida’s duo of Jillian Broddock and Jenna Russ 6-4, 6-1, making it to the final four phase on Wednesday at Drumlins.
Randall, in the first round of singles, swept Vernon-Verona-Sherrill’s Kelly Breckenridge 6-0, 6-3, only to fall in the quarterfinals to Auburn’s Lauryn Husby 7-5, 6-1. Ginestro and Llanos won, 6-3, 6-2, over Tina Hoag and Jordan Vaught (Bishop Grimes), and had a shot at meeting Heyn and Joyce in the semifinals, only to fall in three sets to B’ville’s Taylor Ferrari and Natalie Kot 4-6, 6-3, 6-2.
