Once again, Fayetteville-Manlius girls tennis players Katerina Atallah and Maggie Bonomo found themselves going deep into the New York State Public High School Athletic Association tournament, this time getting all the way to the championship match.
At least in the short term, the goal for Atallah and Bonomo at Latham’s Tri-City Fitness center was to equal their quarterfinal run in the 2016 tournament – which they did, and then went two rounds further.
It helped that Atallah and Bonomo, as the no. 4 seeds, picked up a first-round bye, meaning they wouldn’t have to play until the round of 16 and had just one match on Saturday afternoon.
With that opportunity, the F-M pair met Warwick’s Jacqueline Grundfast and Ava Ghobadian, who had gone through a long three-set battle in the first round to beat Lauren Karogian and Zoe Watson (Orchard Park).
Atallah and Bonomo prevailed, 6-1, 6-0, over Grundfast and Ghobadian, reaching the quarterfinals, and didn’t stop there, either, returning Sunday morning to beat Victor’s Emily Stanley and Sarah Morro, the no. 5 seeds, and beating them in two sets 6-4, 6-4.
A big moment would come in the semifinals as Atallah and Bonomo faced Mamaroneck’s top-seeded duo of Katherine Orgielewicz and Allison Zerbib.
They played a close first set, going to a tie-breaker, but Atallah and Bonomo won it 7-4. That gave them a cushion against a 6-1 defeat in the second set and led to a final set that went back and forth before the F-M pair beat Orgieliewicz and Zerbib 7-5.
And it all led to Monday’s championship match, where Attalah and Bonomo met the no. 2 seed, Ursuline’s Laina Campos and Vanessa Ciano, who were state finalists a year ago, too, and determined to atone for that defeat.
The first set was a quick one, Campos and Ciano prevailing 6-1. Attalah and Bonomo split the first six games of the second set, but could not keep Campos and Ciano from winning the last three games, taking the set 6-3 and earning the state title.
Section III’s other doubles teams did not go as far, with Oneida’s Brianna Laureti and Lauren Skibitski losing in the round of 16 as West Genesee’s Mikayla Mannara and Katie Viau falling in the first round.
Moving to the singles state tournament, Christian Brothers Academy’s duo of Rena Steele and Gieselle Vlassis would join New Hartford’s Sarah Corasanti as the Section III representatives.
Steele, like Corasanti, won in the first round, battling Corning’s Connie Hou and pulling out a 7-5, 6-3 decision, but that put her in the round of 16 against top seed Rachel Arbitman, from Hewitt, who defeated Steele 6-0, 6-0.
As for Vlassis, the seventh-grader ran into Ward Melville’s Denise Lai in the first round and lost, 6-0, 6-1. In the consolation bracket, Vlassis took on Orchard Park’s Madigan Humiston and, in a single set match, lost to Humiston 8-2.
