An extraordinary high school tennis career put together by Baldwinsville’s Kahlei Reisinger would culminate last weekend in her fourth and final quest to bring home the New York State Public High School Athletic Association singles championship.
Again, the top singles and doubles players in the state gathered at Latham’s Tri-City Fitness Center, where Reisinger prevailed in the consolation bracket in 2012 following a first-round defeat and then reached the round of 16 the next year, only to drop a close match to Eastport South Manor’s Jackie Buzkin.
Play began on Saturday morning, where Reisinger, the no. 8 seed, met Pittsford Mendon’s Tami Comins. But the top seed, and Reisinger’s tournament experience, meant little against Comins, who beat her in straight sets 6-3, 6-4 and, again, put her in the consolation bracket.
Trying to make the best of it, Reisinger won her first consolation match over Nicole Kozinski (Clarence) 8-3, advancing to the quarterfinal round, where she faced Pine Bush’s Sarah Bogdanovic. Here, it was even more lopsided, Reisinger prevailing by an 8-1 margin.
And once she defeated John Jay-Cross River’s Anya Ivenitsky in the semifinals, Reisinger took on Valley Central’s Sera Satkowski in the consolation bracket final. Culminating her high-school career, Reisinger rolled past Ivenitsky 8-2.
Meanwhile, Comins would eventually reach the quarterfinals in the main bracket before the top seed, Hewlett’s Kseniya Zonova, beat her 6-0, 6-3 on the way to a championship-round appearance.
As for the other Section III players in the state tournament, New Hartford’s Sarah Corasanti and Mexico’s Glulia Bancale were also in the singles field. Each of them fell in the first round, too – Corasanti to Commack’s Kimberly Liao (the no. 5 seed) 6-2, 6-0, Bancale to Half Hollow Hills East’s Chikvashvilli (the no. 7 seed) 6-0, 6-0. Corasanti did win a match in the consolation bracket.
In doubles, Auburn’s Lauryn Husby and Julia Wagner, the no. 8 seed, were joined by West Genesee’s Samantha Heyn and Mikayla Mannara and the Fayetteville-Manlius team of Kristina Liu and Shirley Zhang.
Husby and Wagner used a pair of three-set wins to get to Sunday’s quarterfinals before the top seeds, Oyster Bay’s Courtney Kowalsky and Celeste Matute, beat them in straight sets 6-3, 6-0.
Heyn and Mannara lost in the opening round in three sets to Half Hollow Hills West’s Danah Han and Mina Sarcevic 3-6, 6-1, 6-2. Liu and Zhang fell to Jericho’s Jiya Singh and Samantha Galu 6-0, 6-1, each of them eventually reaching the consolation bracket semifinals.
