Not only did the Fayetteville-Manlius and Christian Brothers Academy girls tennis teams roll to Section III team championships in their respective classes – the Hornets in Class A, the Brothers in Class B – they would also clean up individual honors, too.
For the Hornets, that meant seeing all three of its top doubles teams advance to this week’s sectional state qualifier during the Division I sectional tournament at Liverpool High School.
In the first two rounds, Katerina Atallah and Maggie Bonomo dropped just one game, while Maddy Drapeau and Diana Polovick had abit more drama, getting within two games of a straight-set defeat before rallying past Danielle Dottler and Lexi Pyke (Cicero-North Syracuse) 2-6, 7-5, 6-0 in the quarterfinals.
Atallah and Bonomo then swept Drapeau and Polovick 6-0, 6-0 in the semifinals, but both teams advanced, as did Patrice Calancie and Martha Welker, but not before they survived West Genesee’s Angelina Llanos and Natatlie Thurston 7-5, 4-6, 6-3 in the first round.
From there, Calancie and Welker swept Meghan Blake and Valerie Morgans (Liverpool) 6-1, 7-6 in the quarterfinals, only to lose in the semifinals to WG’s Mikayla Mannara and Katie Viau 6-0, 6-2. In Thursday’s final, Atallah and Bonomo would claim the title, beating Mannara and Viau 6-2, 7-6.
In Division I singles, F-M’s Anna Manta made an inspired run to the sectional title. She wept Makayla Huntley (Central Square) 6-1, 6-2 and Alina Minkova (Baldwinsville) 6-2, 6-4 before a tense 7-6, 6-1, 6-3 semifinals win over Baldwinsville’s Brooke Tutor, the top seed.
Compared to the match with Tutor, the final on Thursday against Central Square’s Erin McCarthy was far less stressful for Manta, who won in straight sets 6-2, 6-3.
Tutor had beaten F-M’s Phoebe Wang 6-1, 6-1 in the quarterfinals, while Keara Polovick dropped a 6-2, 6-3 decision to Liverpool’s Erin Chambrone in the opening round.
Meanwhlie, in Division III at Syracuse University’s SkyTop Courts, it was CBA sweeping to both the singles and doubles title, claiming three of the four singles berths in the qualifier as Rena Steele, Gieselle Vlassis and Grace DelPino did not drop a set in any of their first two matches on the way to the semifinals.
Once they got to the semifinals, Steele handled DelPino 6-2, 6-1, with Vlassis getting past Cazenovia’s Alex Galle 6-4, 6-2. The All-CBA final belonged to Steele, who needed just two sets to defeat Vlassis 6-2, 6-3.
Over in doubles, CBA’s duo of Grace Coyne and Mikayla Santulli proved unstoppable, winning twice in straight sets to secure advancement to the state qualifier before a 6-1, 6-1 semifinals romp over Skaneateles’ Lily Datz and Rachel Feeney.
It helped, too, that Coyne and Santulli had to face, in the finals, Cazenovia’s Laura Connor and Julie Silverman, who had to win a semifinal match earlier that same day. Far more refreshed, Coyne and Santulli won a 6-3, 7-5 decision.
Two other doubles teams lost in earlier rounds, with Allison Brown and Mary Kilmartin unable to hold on in a 1-6, 6-4, 6-2 defeat to Westhill’s Grace and Katie Lesselroth as Grace Catalano and Anna Sasser lost in the opening round.
Manlius-Pebble Hill found success in Division IV singles at Utica Parkway thanks to the doubles team of Lily Grenis and Louisa Morrow, who beat Lesley Aucter and Jennifer McBain (Beaver River) 6-4, 7-5 and then, in the semifinals, topped Georgia and Josie Barton (Watertown IHC) 6-1, 6-1 before a 6-4, 6-1 loss in the finals to Beaver River’s Dana Halladay and Elaine Roberts.
In singles, MPH’s Anna Szombathy after a first-round bye, swept Westmoreland’s Alexandra Grodon 6-1, 6-1 to advance to this week before she lost, 7-5, 6-1, to Utica-Notre Dame’s Emily Lyga, who would face her sister, Ellen Lyga, in the finals.
Ellen Lyga had beaten MPH’s Grace Walsh 6-2, 6-2 in the quarterfinals.. Ellen Lyga had knocked out MPH’s Parmees Fazeli 6-0, 6-0 in her quarterfinal match.
In the Division II tournament at Utica Parkway Courts, Jamesville-DeWitt and East Syracuse Minoa both took part, but neither could get a player into the state qualifier.
Only the Spartans’ duo of Christine Andrews and Shejia Hujdur got through the round of 16, beating Chittenango’s Nadia Cannistra and Alexandra Drake 7-6, 6-4 before a 6-2, 7-5 defeat to New Hartford’s Leila Marhamati and Maya Padula in the quarterfinals.
Elsewhere, ESM had Erin Houghtaling and Alexis Stone take a first-round defeat, while J-D’s Olivia DeHoog and Margaret Frank, the no. 5 seed, fell to Oneida’s Meghan Friske and Molly Moyer 6-1, 6-3. Two other sides, Olivia Frison-DeAngelis-Lena Jones and Sara Gow-Riya Sharma, did not make it out of the opening round.
Up in the singles division, ESM’s Kim Pham fell in the round of 16 to Kristina Kuts (Whitesboro) 6-1, 6-4, as did J-D’s Tara Pollock, who as a no. 2 seed fell to Oneida’s Sydney Lusher 6-3, 6-3. Anna Sofia Hege lost, 4-6, 6-4, 6-2, to Oneida’s Emily Marshall.
