ONONDAGA COUNTY – Area girls tennis teams crowded in as many matches as possible before this week’s start of the Section III team tournaments.
East Syracuse Minoa, who knocked off Jamesville-DeWitt on Sept. 20, fell 6-1 to Central Square last Monday, its lone point in doubles, where Abigail Cain and Emily Murnane topped Allison Mable and Olivia Waterbury 6-3, 6-3.
Three other matches went to three sets, and the Redhawks won all of them, including a singles battle where Gianna Brilbeck pushed Danni Moran to a third-set tie-breaker, but lost 6-1, 5-7, 7-6. The teams of Jessica Baker-Brooke Kirkpatrick and Tierrah Bauer-Bella Sylvester both won the first set, yet could not hold on.
ESM lost, 6-1, to West Genesee a day later, avoiding the shutout when Adrianna Byrd, in second singles, worked past Kailyn Drury 7-5, 6-1. Bauer and Sylvester were close in doubles, but lost 7-5, 6-4 to Kayla Latone and Hannah Sparks.
But the Spartans rebounded by defeating Fulton 5-2 on Wednesday afternoon, sweeping the doubles to go with Byrd’s 6-2, 6-1 singles win over Olivia Cunningham.
Sylvester paired with Rhiannon Axtman and Bauer paired with Brilbeck, the quartet losing just one game between them, while Baker and Angelina Baxter held off Julianna Delano and Sarah Nichols 6-4, 6-4. Amelia Cooper and Emily Hughes got a 6-4, 6-1 win over Adelaide McEachen and Alissa Murdoch.
As for J-D, it beat Oswego 7-0 last Monday, with every match won in two sets. Between them, the Red Rams’ singles trio of Ebu Oguntola, Hallie Bouchard and Sevara Abduvalieva lost just one game in six combined sets.
However, Auburn topped J-D 5-2 two days later, getting a singles point when Mona Farah beat Alexandra Vitale 6-2, 6-0 as Ava Harle and Tara Pollock paired in doubles to beat Abigail Carr and Claire Diffin 6-3, 7-6. Oguntola lost a 6-3, 0-6, 6-0 battle to Ella Bouley.
Rebounding Thursday, the Rams edged Central Square 4-3, rescuing it with a pair of three-set victories.
Oguntola had won in singles when Bouchard outlasted Molly Giblin 6-0, 4-6, 6-3. with Farah and Pollock already victorious in doubles, Abduvalieva and Adelaide Anello and, down a set and facing a second-set tie-breaker, roared back to beat Carley Cinquemani and Olivia Whewell 2-6, 7-6, 6-4.
Then J-D beat Chittenango 5-2 on Friday, the highlight a 6-7 (7-3), 7-5, 10-8 doubles classic where Jaeda Robinson and Alaira Otteson outlasted Allison Bartoszek and Michele LaTour. Farah, Oguntola and Bouchard all won straight-set singles decisions.
Manlius-Pebble Hill met Cazenovia last Monday and lost, 6-1, to the Lakers, only getting a point from Amitees Fazeli in singles as she routed Clare Douglas 6-0, 6-1. In three sets, Caroline Mezzalingua fell to Baylee Pierce 5-7, 6-3, 10-4.
In Tuesday’s 4-3 defeat to Marcellus, the Trojans saw Amitees Fazeli, Parmees Fazeli and Emily Zeitsev sweep singles, but the Mustangs claimed all the doubles points, including a three-set battle where Eden Hildebrandt and Dahlila Nemes could not hold on in a 5-7, 6-3, 6-3 loss to Sophie Clarke and Shaelyn Kelly.
The skid ended Wednesday when MPH shut out Mexico 7-0. Zeitsev and the Fazeli sisters did not lose more than two games in any set they played, with all four doubles matches also won in two sets.
Bishop Grimes lost 5-1 to Jordan-Elbridge last Wednesday, with Riley Broton and Sofia Ziankoski pairing up in doubles to knock off Mia Disinger and Jillian Ferris 6-4, 6-2.
Then MPH met Grimes Thursday and the Trojans prevailed, 6-1, with shutouts in all of the matches except first singles, where Ziankoski topped Mezzalingua 6-3, 7-5.
Aided by two forfeits on Friday, MPH beat Jordan-Elbridge 4-2 on Friday afternoon. Ava Benedict prevailed in singles 6-3, 6-0 over Elizabeth Conrad, while in a three-set doubles epic Nemes and Sophia Menacho claimed a 6-7 (7-5), 6-2, 7-6 (12-10) win over Emily Chiaramonte and Leah Dixon.
