In order to win the Section III Class A team tournament, the Baldwinsville girls tennis team would need to navigate through three rounds against three strong opponents in a span of four days.
And the Bees did make it to the finals, only to fall a single point short of the ultimate prize as it took a 4-3 defeat to Christian Brothers Academy Friday at Utica’s Mott Courts.
The easiest part came first as, after last Monday’s rainout, the no. 3 seed Bees returned a day later to face no. 6 seed Utica Proctor in the quarterfinal round and put together a 7-0 shutout of the Raiders.
Eva Smith’s 6-0, 6-0 singles win over Kel Blu Wah set the tone as Brooke Tutor handled Selma Dizdarevic 6-1, 6-0, with Paige Tromblee getting a 6-3, 6-1 win over Tulsi Patel.
Moving to doubles, Audrey Benton and Hannah Gould had the closest match, but that was a 6-0, 7-5 win over Saydra Chey and Debora Win, with Reagan Doan and Ella Tromblee topping Rebecca Hunyh and Victoria Vo 6-1, 6-1.
Lauren Devine and Isabelle Thomas had their own 6-0, 6-0 win over Tha Dah Mwee Kyet and Diana Matheh, with Meredith Perine and Blake Tripodi topping Gu Gu and Alexandra Underwood 6-1, 6-1.
The semifinal a day later pitted B’ville against no. 2 seed Auburn, but once again the Bees were ready for it, dominating singles and twice rallying for crucial doubles points to defeat the Maroons 5-2.
Tutor didn’t need much time to beat Makayla Huntley 6-0, 6-1 as Paige Tromblee won 6-2, 6-0 over Rosalia Bartolotta and Smith got past Erin Calkins, 6-3, 6-2.
Auburn countered with two doubles points as Doan and Ella Tromblee falling to Claire Diffin and Alexandra Vitale 6-4, 4-6, 6-1, while Perine and Tripodi fell 7-6, 6-4 to Taylor Chadderdon and Gabrielle McGinn.
After dropping the first set, Benton and Gould took over to beat Kathryn Brown and Alexis Calkins 4-6, 6-3, 6-3. Devine, now paired with Breanna Murdock, also fell behind but, two games from defeat, fought back to win 4-6, 7-5, 7-5 over Sophie Lesch and Lillianna Spin.
A day later, B’ville watched as top seed Fayetteville-Manlius was upended 4-3 by Christian Brothers Academy, the Brothers avenging its 2018 sectional finals defeat while ending a long reign by the Hornets in the sectional ranks.
So it was CBA awaiting B’ville in the sectional final, and it was the Brothers dominating every singles match, Smith falling 6-0, 6-0 to Gieselle Vlassis as Benton fell to Grace DelPino by those same scores and Ella Tromblee took a 6-2, 6-4 loss to Julia DelPino.
Fighting back in doubles, the Bees had Tutor and Guild pair up to beat Aubrey Mills and Grace Catalano 6-3, 6-4, with Doan and Paige Tromblee handling Maddie Tallman and Lily Genecco 6-3, 6-1.
Tripodi and Perine won when an injury sidelined CBA’s Sophie Schultz and Schutie Zirath, but Devine and Sarah Cavino could not get the fourth point as Annie Kilmartin and Hana Kang topped them in another 6-3, 6-1 decision.
B’ville’s top singles and doubles players will start play in the individual sectional tournaments early next week
