With undefeated regular seasons in the books, girls tennis teams at Fayetteville-Manlius (Class A) and Christian Brothers Academy (Class B) set out as favorites in their respective Section III team tournaments, not starting until early this week.
CBA closed out its regular season last Tuesday by handling Marcellus 6-1, getting the usual singles sweep as Gieselle Vlassis blanked Mikayla Cusick 6-0, 6-0, with Rena Steele stopping Courtney Otis 6-0, 6-1 and Grace DelPino stopping Bryanna VanHelsingden by those same scores.
In doubles, the Mustangs did get a point when Caroline Keegan and Marcy Gosson topped Grace Catalano and Anna Sasser 7-5, 7-5, but the Brothers won the rest of the matches in two sets as the teams of Mikayla Santulli-Grace Coyne, Alison Brown-Mary Kilmartin and Grace Glowaki-Aubrey Mills dropped just one game in six total sets.
As part of a crowded sectional Class B bracket Jamesville-DeWitt, the no. 4 seed, had to beat no. 13 seed Chittenango in Friday’s opening round, and the Red Rams did so, prevailing over the Bears in a rain-shortened 4-0 decision to earn a quarterfinal date with Indian River.
Tara Pollock rolled to a 6-1, 6-1 singles win over Shannon Koegel, with Inka Gajra surviving a long second-set tie-breaker to beat Emma Bailey 6-3, 7-6 (10-8). In doubles, Lena Jones and Olivia Frison DeAngelis handled Alexandra Drake and Nadia Cannistra 7-6 (7-2), 6-4, with Sonali Patel and Shannon Beaudry prevailing in a 7-5, 6-4 decision over Natalie Simmons and Chloe Foran.
J-D won last Tuesday over Cortland 6-1, claiming all three singles points as Pollock topped Taylor Hart 6-0, 6-1, with Gajra stopping Kathleen Starr 6-3, 6-3 and Anna Sofia Hege working past Morgan Tabel 7-5, 6-3.
Patel and Beaudry lost, in a 7-5, 3-6, 10-7 decision to Lindsey Bush and Sophia Reyngoudt, but another three-setter saw Margaret Frank and Olivia DeHoog beat Sarah Boyce and Kayci Olson 6-1, 4-6, 10-7 as DeAngelis and Jones beat Lily Devlen and Pearl Hettich 6-3, 6-4.
Then, in Thursday’s 6-1 win over Central Square, J-D saw Gajra beat Victoria Tyrrell and Hege top Brittney Schill by equal 6-4, 6-3 scores, with Pollock routing Madison Sabourin 6-0, 6-2. In doubles, the teams of Jones-DeAngelis, Sara Gow-Riya Sharma and Shannon Beaudry-Sonali Patel also won in two sets.
Manlius-Pebble Hill found itself the no. 5 seed in the Class C sectional bracket, ready to take on no. 4 seed Cazenovia in Monday’s quarterfinals while, in the first round, no. 11 seed Bishop Grimes faced no. 6 seed Holland Patent and knocked out the Golden Knights 3-2 to advance to the quarterfinals against no. 3 seed Lowville.
In order to beat HP, the Cobras needed Liz Wolaver to survive a three-set singles battle and beat Madison Brown 6-2, 2-6, 6-3. Katie Knittel routed Skyler Kaelin 6-0, 6-1, while Olivia Minor and Kate Mathews claimed a 7-6 (7-3), 6-2 doubles win over Sara Mierek and Ashley Olney. Michaela Marturano lost, 1-6, 6-4, 6-3, to Katie Harrison.
MPH prevailed last Monday over Chittenango 5-2, mostly due to a singles sweep. Anna Szombatha beat Emma Bailey 6-2, 6-0, with Grace Walsh rolling past Anna Rooney 6-0, 6-1 and Parmees Fazeli blanking Alazne Perez 6-0, 6-0.
Among the doubles matches, the Trojans’ team of Genevieve Morrow and Rebecca Church won, 6-1, 6-4 over Cannistra and Morgan-Shae Gondeck, with Eva Englich and Eden Hildebrandt getting past Drake and Sofia Gusella 6-2, 6-3.
Then, in its regular-season finale, MPH improved to 9-2 overall by handling Homer 6-1, Walsh getting through the toughest singles match as she beat Madison Baker 7-5, 6-2, with Szombatha blanking Tessa Brown 6-0, 6-0 as Fazeli handled Nicolo Petriesova by those same totals.
Grenis and Louisa Morrow won in doubles, topping Catarina and Marlena Kruman 7-5, 6-1. Though Genevieve Morrow and Halle Erwin lost, 6-7 (7-5), 6-3, 6-2 to Ellis Han and Ally Hammond, the teams of Cousins-Sara Antonevich and Englich-Hildebrandt both got straight-set wins.
East Syracuse Minoa had a pair of matches against Cortland last Monday, with the Purple Tigers prevailing in both of them by 6-1 and 5-2 margins. In single-set contests to 10 games, the Spartans’ Kim Pham twice beat Taylor Hart 10-1.
On the doubles side, the lone ESM point came when Megan Volz and Sophia Rogers held off Lindsey Bush and Merrill Storch 10-9. In another close doubles match, Shaina Brilbeck and MaryLouise Pontius lost, 10-9, to Bush and McKenna Morris.
ESM also won Thursday over Syracuse West 5-2 to improve its overall record to 4-7, with Pham beating Emily Sanborn 6-0, 6-0 and Maddy Woodson, in second singles, beating Maddie Rioux 7-5, 6-4. In doubles, Reed and Melody Viera won, 3-6, 6-4, 10-8 over Nancy Ho and Kelsi Morales as the teams of Christine Andrews-Shejia Hujdur and Alexis Stone-Julia Barnwell both won in two sets.
