A month’s worth of heated regular-season competition had separated the Cazenovia girls tennis team from everyone in the OHSL Liberty American division, other than Skaneateles.
Now the two Lakers would stage a first-place battle last Friday, but only after Cazenovia turned back a fierce challenge from its neighbors as it edged Chittenango 4-3 last Thursday afternoon.
Every singles match went in the Lakers’ favor, with Alex Galle handling Delaney Dawkins 6-2, 6-0 as Laura Connor turned back Brooke DiFlorio 6-2, 7-5 and Emmie Dolbear won over Leah Demauro 6-0, 6-2.
Putting its best players in doubles, the Bears had Chloe Foran and Katie Simmons beat Ella Koch and Baylee Pierce 6-2, 6-4, with Riley Ellis and Sarah Lanphear overcoming a terrible second set to win 6-4, 0-6, 6-3 over Kaitlyn Puffer and Nina Royer.
A long three-set battle had Abbie Austin and Keelin Davie rally to top Nova Berger and Clare Douglas 3-6, 6-0, 12-10, but the Lakers got the point it needed when Abby Burrell and Charley Harris beat Anna Rooney and Brenna Stanton 6-4, 6-4.
All of this should have boosted Cazenovia’s confidence, but at Austin Park it was Skaneateles who got the best of it, prevailing 5-2 to move to 8-1 in the league as Cazenovia fell to 8-2.
Galle won 6-2, 6-0 over Rachael Feeney as Connor took out Hope Allyn 6-3, 6-2, but that was it as, in third singles, Dolbear could not keep up with Isabella Kroon in a 6-1, 6-3 defeat.
Then Skaneateles won all four doubles matches, with only one of them going to three sets. Royer, paired with Burrell this time, led early, but could not hold on, losing 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 to Riley Fouts and Bridget Neumann.
At the start of the week, Cazenovia was impressive in shutting out Manlius-Pebble Hill 7-0, preserving that perfect mark when Dolbear, rallied past Sara Antonevich 2-6, 6-2, 6-3.
Galle battled in her 6-4, 6-4 singles win over Parmees Fazelli as Connor won 6-4, 6-2, over Genevieve Morrow. Burrell and Harris had their own 6-4, 6-4 decision over Ava Benedict and Eden Hildenbrandt. The other doubles matches were all 6-0, 6-2 wins, though.
Puffer and Royer had one of them, over Eva Englich and Emma Gross, with Berger and Douglas doing the same to Zhijie Han and Caroline Mezzalingua as Koch and Pierce beat Kaeli Ahn and Ileana Anghel.
Chittenango returned to the win column last Monday, aided by a doubles sweep as the Bears defeated Bishop Grimes 5-2.
Stanton and Shelby Maring got a 6-3, 6-1 win over Sarah Falgiatano and Abby Fletcher. Dawkins and DiFlorio took a bit longer, but handled Lenora Cedrone and Abby Wilkinson 6-4, 6-2.
Austin and Davie didn’t take too long roaring past Samantha Burton and Jenny Morabito 6-1, 6-1, while Foran and Simmons had a 6-2, 6-1 win over Maggie Eallonardo and Hannah Maroney.
Up in singles, Rooney lost to Grimes’ Katie Knittel 6-2, 6-2, with Ellis falling to Kate Mathewson 6-3, 6-1. But Lanphear tacked on another point by getting past Michaela Marturano 6-3, 6-4
It proved a bit closer in Wednesday’s match with Westhill, but the Bears pulled it out 4-3 when, in third singles, Ellis needed three sets to defeat Sophia Frost 6-4, 2-6, 10-7.
Rooney and Lanphear lost in the other singles matches, but Chittenango went 3-1 in doubles. Dawkins and DiFlorio routed Mikayla Carroll and Kaley Richmond 6-2, 6-0, with Foran and Simmons handling Sophie Langdon and Madison Thomas 6-4, 6-0. Demauro and Bella Toscano turned back Hannah Johnston and Bridget Thornton 6-1, 6-2.
Chittenango played again on Friday after the narrow defeat to Cazenovia, with its own match against MPH where, again, it lost 4-3, the turning point a doubles match where Rooney and Stanton saw an early lead get away, falling 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 to Benedict and Halle Erwin.
Toscano won in singles, 6-4, 6-2, over Katrina Ahn, while Austin and Davie rolled past Emma Gross and Caroline Mezzalingua 6-2, 6-2. Also in doubles, Foran and Simmons won over Kaeli Ahn and Zhijie Han 6-3, 6-1.
