For many years, the West Genesee girls tennis team chose not to take part in the Section III Class A tournament, but in 2018 the Wildcats eagerly entered the fray.
Given the no. 2 seed, WG handled no. 7 seed Oswego 6-1 in last Wednesday’s quarterfinals, which took place after early-week rains caused a pair of postponements.
The Wildcats dominated in doubles, starting with Angelina Llanos and Anastasia Mello handling Victoria Crisafulli and Alyssa Lapetino 6-1, 6-0 as Natalie Thurston and Emma Yeager beat Abby McPherson and Mattie Wallace 6-1, 6-1.
It wasn’t much different in the other doubles matches, Alyssa Congel and Mi Tran routing Sonja Anderson and Gabby Pacheco 6-0, 6-1 as Greta Hahn and Chloe Soltys won, 6-2, 6-0, over Hannah Rebello and Julianne Verceles.
Up in singles, Emma Pinker had a 6-1, 7-6 defeat to Abbey Yurkon, but Katie Viau shut out Kelly Lizotte 6-0, 6-0, with Mikayla Mannara getting a 6-2, 6-0 win over Alyssa Adner.
So in the semifinals Friday (after another rainout on Thursday), WG would try and topple Christian Brothers Academy, undefeated but a no. 6 seed since it had faced Class B and C sides in the regular season.
But the Wildcats lost 5-2 to the Brothers, with Mello taking three sets to beat Calista Albring 6-3, 3-6, 6-0 as Viau prevailed over Grace Glowaki in two sets.
In first singles, Mannara lost to Gieselle Vlassis 6-1, 6-1, and CBA swept all four doubles matches, with only one of them going to three sets as Thurston and Yeager took a 6-0, 3-6, 6-2 defeat to Grace Catalano and Aubrey Mills.
As for Marcellus, it made one long road trip to upend no. 7 seed Holland Patent in the Sept. 29 first round and, last Monday, went for another against no. 2 seed Canastota, only to fall 3-2 to the Raiders.
Each side won two matches in two sets. For the Mustangs, Colleen Marsh, in singles, handled Emmalee Warner 6-0, 6-2, with Kaitlyn Kemp and Morgan Walsh prevailing 6-4, 6-1 in doubles over Alyse Stockbridge and Valona Whitehead.
Canastota countered with Crystal VanOrnam taking her singles match over Kathleen DeMaire 7-5, 6-1 as Kacey Cashel got past Danielle Copp 6-3, 6-2.
So it rode on first doubles, where Marcellus’ duo of Elaina Mahoney and Megan Mitchell won the first set 6-0 over Skyler Donley and Logan Hood.
Instead of a rout, though, Mahoney and Mitchell saw Donley and Roder come right back, take the second set 6-4 and then, in the final set, prevail 6-3, eliminating the Mustangs from the sectional draw.
