BALDWINSVILLE – For more than three decades, Baldwinsville girls tennis players accomplished plenty on an individual and team basis, but one thing was missing – a head-to-head win over Fayetteville-Manlius.
Often, the Bees’ lone blemishes would be at the hands (and rackets) of the Hornets, who once won 329 consecutive league matches, so many of them in showdowns with B’ville.
But it all finally changed on Friday afternoon when, on its newly-painted red courts, the Bees, with a singles sweep and a clutch victory in doubles, edged F-M 4-3.
First place in the SCAC Metro division was already at stake in this match, and B’ville stated its case in singles, starting with Alya Kalfass shutting out Sareem Mangat 6-0, 6-0.
Laine Zoanetti, once she got past a close first set, pulled away from Angelina Fang 6-4, 6-0, while in first singles Mira Nadzan got a 6-3, 6-2 win over Lina Limam.
F-M pulled even with its work in doubles, with Keagan Downes and Livia Zoanetti overwhelmed by the duo of Shreya Bhattacharya and Selena Chen 6-0, 6-1.
Also, Ella Clary and Laine Zoanetti lost, 6-2, 6-2, to Juila Comprix and Lindsay Chong, with Eva Pawelek and Carmela Budzich falling to Caitlyn McLean and Aimee Fousek 6-3, 6-1.
So it all hinged on first doubles, B’ville sending veterans Julia Quinn and Reagan Doan to face F-M’s strong duo of Trisha Adavikolanu and Kayla Quinn.
Having won the first set 6-3, Doan and Julia Quinn saw the second set go to a tie-breaker, where they lost, 7-6, but in the final set the Bees pair made sure there wasn’t late suspense, winning 6-1 to gain the team a landmark victory.
