In years past, the Baldwinsville girls tennis team could count on defeating its neighbors from Liverpool whenever and wherever they faced each other.
That changed, though, last Tuesday afternoon as the Bees, with just one point in singles and two in doubles, dropped a 4-3 decision to the Warriors.
Paige Tromblee got B’ville on the board in singles, topping Julie Schewe 6-1, 6-3, but despite a great start Audrey Benton lost, 0-6, 6-3, 6-1, to Kelly Geitwitz as Hannah Gould fell to Angelica Underwood 6-3, 6-4.
Twice in doubles, the Bees made comebacks. Katrina Hays-Peterson and McKenna Murphy outlasted Erica Gibbs and Natalie Kidd 3-6, 6-3, 12-10 as Sarah Cavino and Isabelle Thomas, after a rough start, roared past Eleni Ioannidis and Cindy Tran 1-6, 6-1, 6-2.
Liverpool got the other two points, though, as Reagan Doan and Ella Tromblee fell to Aryanna Davila and Crystal Morgans 7-5, 6-0, with Lauren Devine and Hanna Manning taking a 6-2, 6-2 loss to Diana Kozenyatko and Gabby Underwood.
Tough as this was, the Bees faced the exact same result on Thursday as it lost to West Genesee in another 4-3 decision where it could not earn a point in singles.
Doan and Tromblee, in doubles, beat the Wildcats’ Mi Tran and Emma Yeager 6-4, 6-4. Cavino and Thomas overcame a rough start to top Alyssa Congel and Emma Pinker 2-6, 6-1, 6-2 as Hays-Peterson and Murphy staged their own comeback, getting a 4-6, 6-1, 6-4 win over Greta Hahn and Chloe Soltys.
But the Bees won all three singles matches in straight sets, the closest of them Benton’s 6-4, 6-4 defeat to Anastasia Mello. And in a three-set doubles battle, Devine and Manning fell to Angelina Llanos and Natalie Thurston 6-3, 3-6, 6-1.
B’ville then had to face powerful Fayetteville-Manlius 24 hours later. Like it has done so many times before, the Hornets controlled matters and kept the Bees off the board in a 7-0 decision.
Manning, Doan and EllaTromblee all lost in singles, with the doubles matches closer. Gould and Paige Tromblee fell 7-6, 6-3 to Alexis Ahn and Keara Polovick, with Hays-Peterson and Murphy losing to Ava Abruzzese and Samhitha Adavikolanu 6-2, 6-4. Cavino and Thomas had a 6-2, 6-3 loss to Maddy Drapeau and Cassie Wojtasiewicz.
A chance for B’ville to recover from all this would come this week with back-to-back matches on Tuesday and Thursday against Syracuse East.
