CENTRAL NEW YORK – A strong regular season had given the Cazenovia girls tennis team the no. 2 seed for the Section III Class C playoffs, and its strong run through the early rounds led to a championship showdown with top seed Skaneateles.
First, though, the Lakers had to get through no. 7 seed Sauquoit Valley in last Wednesday’s quarterfinal. With just five points at stake, Cazenovia grabbed most of them while eliminating the Indians 4-1.
Clare Douglas prevailed in singles 6-1, 6-4 over Ella Luczak, and though Baylee Pierce lost, 6-0, 6-0, to Philymena Dikar, Rachel Molloy answered by topping Katrina Casper 6-1, 6-0.
One of the doubles matches was forfeited to Quinlan Emhoff and Megan Kuhn, but Julia Knutsen and Emma Schwartz did play, topping Jane Cookinham and Elisabeth Johnson 6-1, 6-0.
Moving to the semifinals, Cazenovia opposed no. 3 seed Clinton, and again it was dominance in doubles and two out of three matches won in singles to claim another 4-1 decision and advance to the finals.
Pierce won this time around, sweeping Alayna Krom 6-3, 6-1 to go with Douglas topping Maggie Bailey 6-1, 6-0, though Molloy had a 6-3, 6-1 defeat to Leah Borton.
Again, Knutsen and Schwartz were triumphant in two sets, taking out Victoria Elefante and Emily Le 6-3, 6-1, with Emhoff and Kuhn also successful in a 6-1, 6-2 win over Karina Davis and Alena Wratten.
And it all led to the final against Skaneateles, whom it had faced at home back on Sept. 1 and took a 6-1 defeat. Those other Lakers had breezed past Manlius-Pebble Hill 5-2 in the quarterfinals and Little Falls 5-0 in the semifinals.
Now the two Lakers sides gathered at Austin Park, where despite a fine effort on Cazenovia’s part, it could not pry a point from Skaneateles, who prevailed 7-0 and advanced to November’s state team tournament in New York City.
Molly fell in singles to Isabelle Soderberg as Douglas took a 6-1, 6-3 defeat to Kenna Ellis and Pierce fell to Lily Miller 6-2, 6-0, and Skaneateles also claimed every doubles match in two sets.
Kiana Vazquez and Faith Widrick lost, 6-2, 7-5, to Katie Kissel and Ellie Torrisi, with Katie Pavelchak and Erin Kuhn getting to a first-set tie-breaker, yet falling to Bella Karpinski and Emma Whipple 7-6, 6-1.
Up in first doubles, Knutsen and Schwartz ran into Ella Danforth and Sophia Soderberg and lost, 6-1, 6-1, with Emhoff and Megan Kuhn losing to Sofia Capozza and Kelsey Rutledge 6-0, 6-2.
