As it navigated into the heart of its crowded September schedule, the West Genesee girls tennis team sported a 3-0 record, capped when, right before Labor Day weekend, it went to Baldwinsville and recorded an impressive 6-1 victory over the Bees.
Alina Minkova won her third singles match for the Bees, sweeping past the Wildcats’ Allie Brusa 6-1, 6-2. WG countered with Mikayla Mannara beating Brooke Taylor 6-4, 6-2 in first singles and Katie Viau topping Paige Tromblee 6-1, 6-0 in second singles.
Moving to the doubles side, the Wildcats needed to claim two different three-set matches to get the sweep. Mi Tran and Emma Yeager trailed early, but rallied to beat Blake Tripodi and Allison Delaney 3-6, 6-4, 6-3, with Andrea Andreeva and Danielle Bertelli outlasting Jessica Rush and Taylor Tripodi 6-4, 3-6, 10-5.
Otherwise, it was Angelina Llanos and Nichole Thurston shutting out Laueren Devine and Riley Warren 6-0, 6-0, with Anastasia Mello and Phoebe Nelson beating Kathryn Grage and Emily Faladeau 6-2, 6-4.
This led WG to its first showdown with Fayetteville-Manlius last Wednesday afternoon, and though the Wildcats again picked off points from the Hornets, it could not quite catch up in a 5-2 defeat.
Back in 2014, WG famously ended F-M’s 21-year, 329-match win streak. Going for another landmark win, the Wildcats did get points in doubles as Llanos and Thurston swept Anna Manta and Diana Polovick 6-4, 6-4, with Mello and Nelson taking three sets to beat Keara Polovick and Maddy Drapeau 6-7 (7-4), 6-3, 6-4.
However, F-M claimed the other two doubles points, including a three-set battle where Bertelli and Andreeva could not hold an early lead in a 4-6, 6-1, 6-1 loss to Cassie Wojtasiewicz and Rachel Liu. And the Hornets swept the singles, including a showdown where Mannara fell to Maggie Bonomo 6-2, 6-4.
WG played Friday against Syracuse East and won by a 7-0 margin, though to preserve the shutout Andreeva had to survive a 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (8-6) singles battle with Eve Llanos and Tran, getting her turn in singles, edged Meiling Le 6-4, 1-6, 7-5. Brusa routed Lyla Hue 6-1, 6-0, and the four doubles teams lost just one game in eight sets of work.
Then, in Saturday’s non-league match against Auburn, the Wildcats topped the Maroons 5-2, Mannara was back in singles play, and routed Celia Mattie 6-0, 6-0 as Viau beat Makayla Huntley 6-0, 6-4 as Brusa took a 6-0, 6-2 loss to Lindsay Jarman.
Mello and Nelson rallied past Alexis Calkins and Anna Streeter 6-7 (8-6), 6-3, 6-3, with Thurston and Llanos beating Emma Solomon and Katherine Brundage 6-4, 6-3. Bertelli and Andreeva topped Meghan Smith and Sydney Whitford 6-1, 6-1. Tran and Yeager fell to Daisy Townsend and Grace Baranick 6-3, 7-6 (7-4).
On Sept. 1, Westhill beat Jordan-Elbridge 4-2 to bounce back from a pair of opening-week defeats that included a narrow 4-3 loss to Chittenango.
Here, though, the Warriors claimed all three singles matches. Kaleigh Danaher and Grace Lesselroth each took 6-0, 6-0 shutouts over, respectively, Wendy Carter and Megan Whalen, with Cami Cortez beating Libby Baker 6-0, 6-1.
The Eagles did better in doubles, where Delaney Dunham and Chelsea Curtis, two games from defeat, rallied to get past Freeman and Sophia Frost 4-6, 7-5, 6-3, while Bella DeCola and Abby Skotinski routed Kaley Richmond and Paige Agostini 6-0, 6-0. The Warriors had Zoe Hynes and Katie Lesselroth beat Abbey Karlik and Megan Hatt 6-1, 6-0.
Marcellus also played on Sept. 1 and won, 5-2, over Phoenix, aided by a pair of forfeits that made up for defeats by Caroline Keegan to Gianna DeRoberts 6-0, 6-0 and Alyssa Goodwin to Brielle DeRoberts 6-1, 6-1.
In doubles Courtney Otis and Mikayla Cusick beat Molly Thorn and Catherine Musumeci 6-2, 6-0, with Madeline and Elena Mahoney topping Lauren Schmidt and Jordan Cole by those same scores. Briyana VanHelsdingen and Megan Mitchell won, 6-3, 6-2, over Katelyn Carbonaro and Mia Graham.
Following a series of rained-out matches on Tuesday – Westhill against Cazenovia, J-E against Pulaski – the Warriors had to go face CBA on Wednesday and could not take a point from the Brothers in a 7-0 defeat.
Danaher had the only games won in singles, but still lost, 6-1, 6-1, to Rena Steele. CBA also won all four doubles matches in straight sets, with Hynes and Cortez putting up the best fight as they fell to Anna Sasser and Grace Catalano 6-2, 6-4.
Marcellus, meanwhile, got a single point from a 6-1 loss to Manlius-Pebble Hill, coming when Kemp and Walsh rallied past Eden Hildebrandt and Eva Englich 2-6, 6-1, 6-2. Goodwin and Morrow had a 7-5, 7-5 defeat to Lily Grenis and Genevieve Morrow as the Trojans dominated singles play.
