Some victories in August, hard-fought as they were, got the West Genesee girls tennis team off in the right direction, though tougher matches loomed once September arrived.
WG met Liverpool on Aug. 30, and needed a singles sweep, plus a doubles point, to get past the Warriors 4-3, the key match coming when Mikayla Mannara, two games from defeat, pulled it out late over Julie Schewe 6-1, 3-6, 7-5.
Katie Viau survived a tough first set to beat Angelica Underwood 7-5, 6-0, while Anastasia Mello handled Kelly Geitwitz 6-4, 6-3. And though Angelina Llanos and Natalie Thurston lost, 6-4, 1-6, 7-6, to Diana Kozenyatko and Gabby Underwood, Alyssa Congel and Emma Pinker got the clinching point as they beat Eleni Ioannidis and Cindy Tran 6-1, 6-3.
September started with WG hosting Fayetteville-Manlius and only plucking a single point from the Hornets in a 6-1 defeat.
Mannara and Viau teamed up for that point in doubles, handling Alexis Ahn and Keara Polovick 6-2, 6-3. Elsewhere in doubles, Mello and Thurston lost, 6-3, 6-3, to Rachel Liu and Martha Welker, with Congel and Pinker falling to Ava Abruzzese and Samhitha Adavikolanu 6-1, 6-4. Llanos lost in first singles to Katerina Atallah 6-0, 6-2.
But WG did prevail Thursday over Baldwinsville 4-3, sweeping the singles as Viau blanked Hannah Gould 6-0, 6-0, with Mannara beating Paige Tromblee 6-4, 6-1 and Mello holding off Audrey Benton 6-4, 6-4.
Needing one point in doubles, WG got it in a three-set battle as Llanos and Thurston got past Lauren Devine and Hanna Manning 6-3, 3-6, 6-1. This made up for the three-set defeats that the teams of Congel-Pinker and Greta Hahn-Chloe Soltys took as they each won opening sets but could not hang on.
It was Westhill confronting Marcellus last Tuesday afternoon, and the Warriors prevailed 5-2, claiming all three points in singles.
Grace Lesselroth rallied for a 3-6, 6-3, 6-0 win over Kathleen DeMarie, with Sophia Frost rolling past Danielle Copp 6-1, 6-1. In between those extremes, Cami Cortez handled Colleen Marsh 6-4, 6-2.
Marcellus got on the board when Elaina Mahoney and Megan Mitchell routed Delaney Carroll and Mikayla Carroll 6-0, 6-1, while Casey Conklin and Maddie Vestch prevailed, 6-4, 6-3, over Hannah Johnston and Madison Thomas.
Westhill countered with Sophie Langdon and Kaley Richmond outlasting Olivia Kittelberger and Sophia Shaw 5-7, 6-3, 10-7, as in first doubles Camille Argentieri and Zoe Hynes held off Kaitlyn Kemp and Morgan Walsh 7-5, 6-4.
Before this, Westhill beat Bishop Grimes 4-3 on Aug. 31. Cortez rallied for a 2-6, 6-2, 6-3 win over Michela Marturano, just as Lesselroth lost to Katie Knittel 6-2, 2-6, 6-2 and Sophia Frost dropped a 6-7, 7-5, 7-6 classic to Kate Mathewson.
To make up ground, the Warriors claimed a doubles forfeit, while Argentieri and Hynes get past Sarah Falgiatano and Abby Fletcher 7-5, 6-2. Then Johnston and Kaley Richmond prevailed over Hannah Maroney and Jenny Morabito 6-3, 2-6, 6-4.
Westhill’s week ended Friday with a 4-3 defeat to Manlius-Pebble Hill. Frost won in singles, and the Warriors got two points in doubles, but Cortez lost a third-set tie-breaker to Genevieve Morrow 2-6, 6-2, 7-6. Langdon and Richmond also lost in three sets.
Marcellus got its first win of the season on Aug. 30 by topping Bishop Grimes 5-2. Marsh rallied past Kate Mathewson 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, and the Mustangs swept the doubles, the key blow a 6-4, 2-6, 7-5 win by Mahoney and Mitchell over Sarah Falgiatano and Abby Fletcher.
Yet another 5-2 match for Marcellus was lost to Chittenango, both points coming in doubles, where Kemp and Walsh stopped Riley Ellis and Sarah Lanphear 7-5, 6-3 as Kittelberger and Shaw topped Chloe Foran and Katie Simmons 6-3, 6-2.
Two of the singles matches went to three sets, but the Bears won both of them as Mitchell, two games from victory, could not hold on and lost to Megan Mitchell 4-6, 7-5, 6-3 and DeMarie lost to Delaney Dawkins 6-0, 4-6, 6-3.
Marcellus was swept in singles by Phoenix, yet still won 4-3 because it won all the doubles points, the clincher a third-set tie-breaker where Conklin and Vetsch rallied past Mackenzie VanAuken and Courtney Worden 4-6, 6-0, 7-6.
Copp lost a three-set singles battle to Ashley Kenner-Carbonaro 6-7, 6-1, 6-3, but the Mustangs’ doubles pairings of DeMarco-Mahoney, Kemp-Walsh and Kittelberger-Shaw each won in two sets.
Jordan-Elbridge fell 7-0 to Cazenovia on Aug. 30, with two solid efforts in doubles. Skylar Crysler and Marissa Reith lost, 7-5, 6-4, to Julia Knutsen and Baylee Pierce as Hayley Holland and Katelyn Precourt had a 7-6, 6-0 defeat to Clare Douglas and Ella Koch.
The Eagles did get a point in last Tuesday’s 6-1 defeat to Homer, with Crysler and Reith edging Abby McLaughin and Brynne Peck 6-1, 1-6, 7-6. Precourt, paired with Maddie Green, got close in a 6-4, 2-6, 7-6 loss to Kaitlyn Clune and Sienna Haskins.
In J-E’s 7-0 loss to Chittenango on Thursday, Green and Precourt had a 6-3, 6-4 defeat to Abbie Austin and Keelin Davie, while in singles Anisa Bort got to a second-set tie-breaker, but lost to Dawkins 6-3, 7-6.
