After getting through one of its toughest stretches of the regular season, the Skaneateles girls tennis team is poised to again post an undefeated record.
This began with last Tuesday’s match against rival Marcellus, a team it beat by a 6-1 margin on Aug. 27. The rematch was a bit closer, but total domination in the four doubles matches helped the Lakers stop the Mustangs 5-2.
To start this doubles sweep, Katelyn Ellison and Liz Belinski rolled past Maddie Conklin and Hannah Tarolli 6-1, 6-1. By those exact same scores, Maura McNeila and Maddy Pinkney defeated Grace Vensel and Anna Canny.
Moving to fourth doubles, Alex Ditch and Bailey Parsons had yet another 6-1, 6-1 victory, this one over Sarah Rohe and Caroline Keegan, with Rachel Feeney and Julia Torrisi rolling past Micah Mixon and Allison Clancy in straight sets 6-2, 6-1.
Only in doubles did the Lakers face any real obstacles. Olivia Gage lost a 4-6, 6-4, 7-5 classic to Rickie Mixon, with Angela Krause overwhelmed in a 6-0, 6-0 loss to Haley Randall. But Rose Byrne salvaged a point by rolling past Abby Vetsch 6-2, 6-1.
And this led to Thursday’s match against Cazenovia, another instance where the first meeting went 6-1 in favor of Skaneateles (on Sept. 2) and, three weeks later, the rematch at Austin Park served as Senior Day for the team’s seven seniors.
Again, Skaneateles won it, 6-1, but the margin was quite deceptive. Four of the seven matches went to three sets, and Skaneateles had to come from behind to win three of them.
At least in doubles, the host Lakers got three points in straight-set decisions. Belinski and Ellison worked past Lucy and Laura Connor 6-3, 6-4, with McNeil and Pinkney topping Anna Barrett and Brittany Wright 7-5, 6-1. Feeney and Torrisi beat Summer Steinhorst and Julia Barrett 6-4, 6-1.
Everything else proved difficult, though. Krause fell to Ava Gurney 6-3, 5-7, 6-4, but Gage, trailing early, rallied to beat Alex Galle 2-6, 6-4, 6-4, while Byrne overcame a first-set tie-breaker defeat to fight past Lucy Langan 6-7 (9-7), 6-4, 6-4.
And in fourth doubles, Parsons and Bruno, shut out in the first set, were two points from defeat to Lizzy Druke and Annika Bruno, but somehow recovered to win a 0-6, 7-6 (9-7), 12-9 classic.
Now all the Lakers have to do is defeat Westhill next Tuesday afternoon to complete a perfect 11-0 run through the regular season.
