No one in Section III girls tennis ended up with a more successful fall campaign than the West Genesee doubles team of Mikayla Mannara and Katie Viau.
Making their second appearance in the New York State Public High School Athletic Association tournament, Mannara and Viau took full advantage of a favorable early draw, advancing all the way to the quarterfinals.
No one else in the Section III contingent that ventured to Tri-City Fitness in Latham, near Albany, would get as far as WG’s pair, who got underway last Saturday morning.
Taking on Lancaster’s Alexa Monrad and Stephanie Romero in the first round, Mannara and Viau claimed the first set 6-3 and then won the second set by that exact same score to advance.
In theory, the round of 16 should have been a tougher assignment, but it wasn’t. Mannara and Viau faced Ward Melville’s Paige Szymusiak and Emma Weidman and dropped just a single game, rolling to a 6-1, 6-0 victory.
By now, with the other sectional tennis players eliminated, all local sides were cheering for Mannara and Viau as they challenged the top seed, Ursuline’s Laina Campos and Vanessa Ciano, on Sunday morning..
Proving why they won this state tournament a year ago, Campos and Ciano did not allow a game from Mannara and Viau, prevailing 6-0 6-0 to end the season for the Wildcats’ pair.
As for Section III’s other doubles teams, Christian Brothers Academy’s Grace Coyne and Grace DelPino won in the first round but fell int the round of 16 to Byram Hills’ Ellie and Alyssa Margolin.
Oneida’s Sydney Lusher and Lauren Skibitski met the same fate, getting through the first round but then taking a 7-5, 6-2 loss to the no. 4 seed, South Side’s Julia Gentile and Lauren Zola.
In singles, only Fayetteville-Manlius’ Katerina Atallah got through the first round, ultimately taking a7-5, 6-0 defeat to Westhampton Beach’s Rose Hayes (the no. 5 seed) as CBA’s Gieselle Vlassis and Utica-Notre Dame’s Ellen Lyga both had first-round defeats.
