Only one pair of players from West Genesee could keep Fayetteville-Manlius from a clean sweep of the Section III Division I tournaments that took place last week.
It was Mikayla Mannara and Katie Viau interrupting the Hornets’ rampage, making it to the doubles finals as the top seed and, after waiting through a week full of rainouts and temperature changes, finishing on top.
Mannara and Viau got started last Tuesday at Syracuse University’s Skytop Courts by routing Diana Kozenyatko and Gabby Underwood (Liverpool) 6-0, 6-1, followed by a quarterfinal win over Baldwinsville’s Lauren Devine and Hanna Manning by those same scores.
The semifinalists were three F-M teams along with Mannara and Viau, who proceeded to take out the Hornets’ Alexis Ahn and Martha Welker 6-1, 6-2 to set up a final against Rachel Liu and Keara Polovick.
Already, Liu and Polovick had knocked out WG’s Natalie Thurston and Emma Yeager 6-2, 6-1 in the quarterfinals after Thurston and Yeager survived a 6-1, 4-6, 6-3 battle with B’ville’s Audrey Benton and Hannah Gould.
A sharp contrast was drawn between the warm temperatures of the early rounds last Tuesday and the final held Friday in autumn chill at Oneida High School after it was rained out on Thursday.
But Mannara and Viau were ready for it as they prevailed 6-4 in the first set and then, in the second set, finished off Liu and Polovick 6-2.
Also in doubles, the Wildcats had Angelina Llanos and Anastasia Mello roll past B’ville’s Reagan Doan and Ella Tromblee 6-1, 6-1, and push F-M’s Maddy Drapeau and Cassie Wojtasiewicz to a third set before taking a 7-6, 2-6, 6-4 defeat.
In Division III at Skytop, Westhill saw its doubles team of Camille Argentieri and Zoe Hynes reach the quarterfinals, having rallied come to win 5-7, 6-3, 6-2 over the Marcellus duo of Elaina Mahoney and Megan Mitchell.
Argentieri and Hynes could go no further, though, as they lost, 6-3, 6-2, to Christian Brothers Academy’s Grace Catalano and Aubrey Mills.
As for Mahoney and Mitchell, they had won 10-1 over Alyse Stockbridge and Valona Whitehead (Canastota) just to reach the round of 16, as did Kaitlyn Kemp and Morgan Walsh, who beat Bella Adamo and Jackie Mann (Holland Patent) 10-6.
Kemp and Walsh then ran into CBA’s Grace Coyne and Grace DelPino, taking a 6-0, 6-0 loss, while teammates Casey Conklin and Maddie Vetsch lost, 10-4, to Lowville’s May Buckingham and Brianna Finn in that opening round.
Jordan-Elbridge also had a doubles team on hand, a sign of how much the Eagles had improved during the entire 2018 season.
Alisa Bort and Meghan Whalen gave the Eagles a 10-1 win over Ashley Olney and Madison Parks (Holland Patent) before a 7-5, 7-6 defeat to Lowville’s Maryam Kirch and Abby Rockwood.
In singles, Westhill had Cami Cortez and Grace Lesselroth each win opening-round matches, Cortez beating Danielle Caringi (Camden) 10-5 and Lesselroth edging CBA’s Calista Albring 10-8.
Both would lose in the next round, though, as Cortez led early, but fell 6-7, 7-6, 6-0 to Phoenix’s Brielle DeRoberts and Lesselroth ran into the no. 2 seed, Cazenovia’s Alex Galle, who prevailed 6-1, 6-1.
