Wherever one turned in recent girls high school girls tennis action, plenty of struggle could be found.
West Genesee met unbeaten Fayetteville-Manlius for the second time this season last Monday afternoon, and this time could not get a point on the board during a 7-0 defeat to the Hornets.
The one close match came in doubles, where Andrea Andreeva and Phoebe Nelson were one game from a victory, but could not get it in a 4-6, 7-6, 6-3 defeat to Keara Polovick and Phoebe Wang. Angelina Llanos fell in singles to Maggie Bonomo 6-1, 6-1 as Natalie Thurston and Greta Hahn could not earn a game in either of their matches.
On Wednesday, WG prevailed, 6-1, over Syracuse East, seeing the doubles teams of Mikayla Mannara-Katie Viau, Noelle Thurston-Danielle Bertelli, Nelson-Anastasia Mello and Andreeva-Mi Tran drop just three games in eight combined sets.
Up in singles play, Syracuse East did break up the shutout when Meiling Le defeated Emma Yeager 6-3, 6-4, but WG earned the other two points as Angelina Llanos beat namesake Eve Llanos 6-1, 6-1, with Emma Pinker needing three sets to oust Kham Hpai 6-1, 4-6, 6-3.
Marcellus nearly got into the win column on Sept. 15, but had to settle for a 4-3 defeat to the Chittenango Bears. Courtney Otis and Alyssa Goodwin lost singles matches, but Mikayla Cusick survived a third-set tie-breaker to beat Anna Rooney 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (10-8).
The Mustangs also split doubles as Elaina and Madeline Mahoney beat Alexandra Drake and Nadia Cannistra 6-1, 6-2, with Briyana VanHelsingden and Megan Mitchell beating Chloe Foran and Katie Simmons 6-1, 6-2. One set away from a clinching point, Morgan Walsh and Kaitlyn Kemp fell, 2-6, 6-3, 6-2, to Shelby Maring and Brenna Stanton.
Another defeat followed last Monday, Marcellus beaten 5-2 by Skaneateles, earning both points in doubles. Mahoney and Kemp paired up to beat Brinley Walewender and Isabella Kroon 6-2, 5-7, 6-1, with VanHelsingden and Paige Tomeny getting past Morse and Marin Doyle 6-1, 6-2.
Elsewhere, Anna Goodwin and Caroline Keegan went to a third-set tie-breaker, but still lost to Kroon and Lily Datz 5-7, 7-5, 7-6 (6-4), with Courtney Otis taking a 6-4, 6-2 singles loss to Emma Miller and Madeline Mahoney meeting a similar fate in her 6-2, 6-4 loss to Hope Allyn.
But Marcellus did beat Jordan-Elbridge 7-0 on Wednesday afternoon, staring out in singles with Otis and Madeline Mahoney getting 6-0, 6-0 wins over, respectively, Abby Skotinski and Wendy Carter, with Elaina Mahoney beating Sarah Williams 6-0, 6-1.
Goodwin and Cusick beat Megan Hatt and Abbey Karlik 6-0, 6-1, with Keegan and Marcy Gosson working together to beat Chelsea Curtis and Bella DeCola by those same scores. Yet another 6-0, 6-1 match saw Kemp and Walsh beat Libby Baker and Meghan Whalen as VanHelsingden and Mitchell won, 6-0, 6-0, over DeCola and Maddie Green.
Before this, J-E could not slow down undefeated Christian Brothers Academy last Monday in a 7-0 loss. Maria LaFleur earned the only singles game for the Eagles in a 6-0, 6-1 defeat to Calista Albring, with Curtis and Delaney Dunham doing the same in doubles as they fell to Anna Sasser and Grace Catalano 6-1, 6-0. DeCola and Green lost to Virgnia Nash and Rati Saini by those same scores.
Westhill lost, 5-2, to Manlius-Pebble Hill last Monday, with Kaleigh Danaher getting a singles point from a 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 battle with Grace Walsh. But the Trojans won all of the doubles matches.
The Warriors’ Katie Lesselroth and Zoe Hynes lost, 4-6, 7-6 (7-3), 7-5 to Lily Grenis and Louisa Morrow, with Cami Cortez and Grace Lesselroth dropping a third-set tie-breaker in a 6-2, 4-6, 7-6 (7-4) defeat to Genevieve Morrow and Parmees Fazeli.
Then, in Thursday’s match against Cazenovia, Westhill dropped a 6-1 decision, only getting a point when Danaher, in first singles, rallied to get past Lucy Langan 3-6, 6-2, 6-2. The Lakers won every other match in straight sets, the closest of them in doubles, where Hynes and Katie Lesselroth fell to Alex Galle and Julie Silverman 6-2, 6-4.
On Friday, Westhill turned it around, beating Pulaski by that same 6-1 margin. Though Mikayla Carroll lost in singles to Chyanna LaCelle 3-6, 6-0, 7-6 (7-4), the Warriors got singles sweeps from Danaher and Frost, who didn’t drop a game, and doubles wins from the Lesselroth sisters, along with Cortez-Hynes and Talitha Freeman-Sophie Langdon.
