A successful season for the Skaneateles girls tennis team culminated with Lily Datz and Rachel Feeney making it through one round in last Tuesday’s Section III state qualifying tournament.
As in years past, the top three singles players and doubles teams would earn a spot in this weekend’s New York State Public High School Athletic Association championships, held at Tri-City Tennis Club in Latham, near Albany.
Unseeded going into the tournament, Datz and Feeney faced New Hartford’s Leila Marhamati and Maya Padula in the opening round. Dropping the first set 6-4, the Lakers pair recovered to win the second set 6-2 and, two games from defeat, pulled out a 7-5 decision in the third set.
The good news was that this put Datz and Feeney in the quarterfinals, but the bad news was that it meant they would face West Genesee’s star duo of Mikayla Mannara and Katie Viau, who reached the state tournament a year ago.
Having dropped just two games in their first round win over Maddy Drapeau and Diana Polovick (Fayeteville-Manlius), Mannara and Viau were far fresher, and Datz and Feeney could only earn one game in a 6-1, 6-0 defeat.
Mannara and Viau went on to a second-place finish and advanced to the state tournament, joining F-M’s team of Katerina Atallah and Maggie Bonomo, plus Oneida’s Brianna Laureti and Lauren Skibitski, in advancing.
