Once the rains stopped and the temperatures dropped, Cazenovia’s girls tennis team squeezed in one more victory before play began in the Section III team and individual tournaments.
For the Lakers, that meant hosting Marcellus last Thursday afternoon, and though some challenges were faced, Cazenovia still defeated the Mustangs, 6-1, and improved its mark for the season to improve to 9-3 overall, 6-1 within the OHSL Liberty division.
Marcellus got its only point in singles, where Haley Randall beat Ava Gurney 6-0, 6-2. Alex Galle countered that by beating Rickie Mixon 6-2, 6-4, with Lucy Langan getting a 6-2, 6-3 victory over Hannah Tarolli.
In the only doubles match to go to three sets, Julia Barrett and Summer Steinhorst trailed early and found itself in a late tie-breaker, but still won over Micah Mixon and Madeline Bird 5-7, 7-5, 8-6 defeat.
Laura and Lucy Connor turned back Abby Vetsch and Maddie Conklin 6-4, 7-6 (7-5). Anna Barrett and Brittany Wright had a 6-2, 6-3 victory over Grace Vensel and Anna Canny, with Julie Silverman and Annika Bruno topping Allison Clancy and Caroline Keegan 6-2, 6-1.
As that went on, Chittenango visited Mexico and, improving to 8-3 on the season, picked up a 5-2 victory over the Tigers.
Though Kelly Gloo lost in singles to Givlia Bancale, Shannon Koegel shut out Skylar Holt 6-0, 6-0, and Anna Norman handled Taylor Hall 6-1, 6-1 to give the Bears two of the three singles points.
Then, going 3-1 in doubles, Chittenango saw Alyssa Knight and Brooke VanGorden beat Emilee Miller and Emily Groh 7-5, 6-1, with Callie Lalor and Taylor Scalzo getting a 6-4, 6-4 victory over Kennedy Myers and Breana Delong. Jordan Kelly and Mackenzie Millick lost, 6-2, 6-4, to Emily Blunt and Bailey Wills, but Strife and Jessie Gilbert dominated their match, beating Sarah Skinner and Kim Bartle 6-0, 6-1.
Cazenovia holds the no. 5 seed in the Section III Class C team tournament and meets no. 4 seed Westmoreland in Monday’s quarterfinals, the winner likely battling top seed Sauquoit Valley in the semifinal round later in the week.
Chittenango was the no. 10 seed in the Class B sectional tournament, but ran right into no. 7 seed New Hartford in last Saturday’s opening round and lost a 5-2 decision to the Spartans, who advanced to a quarterfinal against no. 2 seed Indian River.
Both of the Bears’ points came in doubles, where Knight and VanGorden beat Sydney Gape and Maya Pedula 6-2, 6-4, while Strife and Gilbert had a 7-5, 6-2 win over Sarah Antenovich and Jenelle Edwards.
Kelly and Lalor lost in straight sets, with Millick and Scalzo falling in three sets to Morgan Joyce and Natalia Constantine 6-1, 2-6, 6-3. Gloo, Koegel and LaRosa could not snatch a set in any of the three singles matches, Koegel getting closest in a 7-5, 6-2 loss to Katie Faroukh.
