Now it was time for the area’s high school girls tennis teams to end regular-season work and turn to the various Section III team tournaments that will run through this Friday’s finals at Utica Parkway Courts.
West Genesee ended its regular season with a tough match at Liverpool last Tuesday that went past sunset due to a late start caused by the hot 90-plus degree temperatures. Still, the Wildcats prevailed, 5-2, over the Warriors to finish up at 10-2, second in the Salt City Athletic Conference Metro division behind Fayetteville-Manlius.
Claiming two of the three singles matches, WG had Katie Viau work past Erin Chambrone 6-4, 6-1, with Angelina Llanos enduring a first-set tie-breaker, but beating Gabby Underwood 7-6 (7-3), 6-2 as Greta Hahn lost to Diana Kozenyatko 6-3, 6-4.
In doubles, the best match came when Mikayla Mannara paired with Anastasia Mello to battle Liverpool’s Meghan Blake and Julie Schewe. After dropping the first set 7-5, Mannara and Mello were one game from defeat before rallying to take the second-set tie-breaker 7-2 and then winning the third set 6-2.
Elsewhere, Phoebe Nelson and Noelle Thurston defeated Crystal and Valerie Morgans 6-4, 6-1, with Danielle Bertelli and Andrea Andreeva handling Erica Gibbs and Natalie Kidd 6-1, 7-5. Mi Tran and Emma Yeager took a 6-1, 6-2 defeat to Giana LaValle and Aryanna Davia.
WG had another exciting match on Wednesday, against Baldwinsville, but was able to earn two points on both the singles and doubles sides to fight past the Bees 4-3.
Mannara played first singles and won a 7-5, 6-4 decision over Brooke Tutor. Hahn lost, 6-2, 6-0, to Taylor Tripodi, but Viau cruised to a 6-2, 6-1 win over Lauren Devine.
In doubles, the only three-set match saw Thurston and Llanos get within a game of a sweep, only to fall, 3-6, 7-6 (7-4), 6-3 to Alina Minkova and Paige Tromblee. WG recovered with Mello and Nelson sweeping Benton Audrey and Allison Delaney 6-2, 6-1 as Bertelli and Andreeva handled Riley Warren and Hannah Manning 6-0, 6-2.
WG faced Marcellus in Thursday’s regular-season finale, and the Wildcats won, 5-2, with Mikayla Cusick putting the Mustangs on the board in singles by beating Yeager 6-4, 6-1 as Viau stopped Marcy Gosson 6-2, 6-1 and Mannara handled Courtney Otis 6-0, 6-1.
A point in doubles for the Mustangs came when Elaina and Madeline Mahoney topped Anna Gonchar and Camielle Watts 6-1, 6-0, but otherwise the Wildcats got sweeps from the teams of Llanos-Thurston, Mello-Nelson and Bertelli-Andreeva, who allowed just five games in six sets of work.
Marcellus had faced Cazenovia on Sept. 22 and lost, 6-1, to the Lakers. Even though it was playing for the fourth time in as many days, Cazenovia swept through singles matches, the Mustangs getting closest when Madeline Mahoney lost, 6-1, 7-5, to Julia Barrett.
The only point for Marcellus came in doubles, where only Briyana VanHelsingden and Megan Mitchell topped Eva Salzman and Nina Royer 6-2, 6-3. Mikayla Cusick and Elaina Mahoney could not hold an early lead in a 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 defeat to Meg Milmoe and Abby Burrell.
Then Marcellus met undefeated CBA last Wednesday afternoon, able to earn a point in a 6-1 defeat when Caroline Keegan and Marcy Gosson won, 7-5, 7-5, over Grace Catalano and Anna Sasser, but in the other six matches the Mustangs got just three games in 12 total sets.
On Friday, no. 8 seed Marcellus hosted no. 9 seed Homer in the opening round of the Section III Class B team tournament, and prevailed 5-2 to earn a berth in the quarterfinals against top seed Oneida.
Otis beat Catarina Kruman 6-2, 6-2, with Gosson fighting past Marlena Kruman 6-4, 6-4. Cusick lost in straight sets, with Keegan and Goodwin falling in a three-set doubles battle to Madison Baker and Tessa Brown 5-7, 6-4, 6-2, but the Mahoney sisters won in straight sets, as did the teams of VanHelsingden-Mitchel and Kaitlyn Kemp-Morgan Walsh.
Jordan-Elbridge fell to Homer 6-1 on Sept. 22, and then gained some points in last Tuesday’s match against Phoenix, yet still fell 5-2 to the Firebirds, unable to get a point from singles players Abby Skotinski, Wendy Carter and Sarah Williams.
The Eagles got a point when Maria LaFleur and Bella DeCola handled Mia Graham and Courtney Worden 6-0, 6-2, while in a three-set thriller Meghan Whalen and Libby Baker outlasted Gravlin and Jordan Cole 6-0, 7-5, 7-6 (10-5). The teams of Chelsea Curtis-Delaney Dunham and Megan Hatt-Abbey Karlik lost in two sets.
On Thursday, J-E lost to Chittenango by that same 6-1 margin, earning a doubles point when LaFleur and DeCola beat Chloe Foran and Natalie Simmons 6-4, 6-3. The Eagles lost the rest of the doubles matches in straight sets, with Williams going to three sets in singles before falling to the Bears’ Keelin Davie 3-6, 6-4, 10-8.
