Things were not easy for the Cazenovia girls tennis team at the outset of its 2019 season, but by the end of the first full week of September it was able to start earning some victories.
The Lakers’ opener on Aug. 28 against Marcellus was rained out. When it was made up 24 hours later, Cazenovia claimed only a single match in a 6-1 defeat to the Mustangs.
That came in doubles, where Alex Galle and Baylee Pierce were able to top Elana Mahoney and Megan Mitchell 6-2, 6-3, but otherwise Marcellus claimed every match in two sets.
In the closest of them, Clare Douglas and Emma Schwartz lost to Kaitlyn Kemp and Morgan Walsh 6-2, 6-4, while in singles Cazenovia’s Nina Royer got close to a third set, but fell to Danielle Copp 6-1, 6-4.
Then, facing its namesakes from Skaneateles on Aug. 30, Cazenovia claimed two of three contested doubles matches in the Lakers duel, but still could not make a dent in singles as it lost 5-2.
Royer, paired with Galle this time, rallied from an early deficit to get past Ella Danforth and Emma Miller 3-6, 6-4, 6-4, while Regan Dauenhauer and Emma Schwartz also needed three sets to hold off Sofia Capozza and Marin Doyle 7-6, 4-6, 7-5.
In a pair of tiebreakers, Mae Sayre and Emma Thornton lost, 7-6, 7-6, to Meg Benedict and Olivia Walker, while in singles Nova Berger fell to Isabella Kroon 6-3, 6-4 and Pierce lost to Sophia Soderberg 6-3, 6-3.
A week passed before Cazenovia returned to action, but when it did last Thursday against Manlius-Pebble Hill, it leaned on strong doubles play to defeat the Trojans 4-3.
Douglas, Pierce and Julia Knutsen all lost straight-set singles decisions, but Galle and Royer got it rolling in doubles for the Lakers, beating Amatees Fazeli Caroline Mezzalingua 6-1, 7-5.
Schwartz paired with Nova Berger to beat Emma Gross and Eden Hildebrandt 6-3, 6-1, while Dauenhauer and Mae Sayre won, 6-3, 6-4, over Kaeli Ahn and Zhijie Han . Thornton and Katie Pavelchak handled Ileana Anghel and Sophia Menacho 6-0, 6-2.
Chittenango claimed its last match of August 5-2 over that same MPH squad, with Delaney Dawkins working past Ava Benedict 7-5, 6-1 in singles as Brooke DiFlorio rolled past Genevieve Morrow 6-2, 6-3.
In doubles, the Bears’ Abbie Austin and Allison Soulier won, 6-2, 7-5, over Gross and Hildebrandt, with Leah DeMauro and Jessica Hallock handling Ahn and Fariel Mageed 6-1, 6-2. By those same scores, Brianna Crystal and Shannon Pitt rolled past Han and Menacho.
Nearly a week later, Chittenango won again, routing Bishop Grimes 7-0. Anna Rooney, in singles, handled Katie Knittel 6-0, 6-1, with Dawkins topping Michela Marturano 6-2, 6-2.
In doubles, four matches were contested and the Bears won all of them in straight sets, the teams of Austin-Soulier, DeMauro-Hallock, Crystal-Pitt and Riley Ellis-Sarah Lanphear each claiming points.