ONONDAGA COUNTY – Simply put, the Fayetteville-Manlius girls tennis team is unaccustomed to defeat.
Having once won 329 league matches in a row, the Hornets were again aiming high this season, but suffered a quick setback on Sept. 2 when it lost 4-3 to Baldwinsvlle.
First place in the SCAC Metro division was at stake in this match, and B’ville stated its case in singles, handing the F-M trio of Angelina Fang, Lina Limam and Sareem Mangat straight-set defeats.
F-M pulled even with its work in doubles, with Shreya Bhattacharya and Selena Chen winning 6-0, 6-1 over Keagan Downes and Livia Zoanetti.
Also, Juila Comprix and Lindsay Chong handled Ella Clary and Laine Zoanetti 6-2, 6-2, with Caitlyn McLain and Aimee Fousek getting past Eva Pawelek and Carmela Budzich 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 lost the first set 6-3, Adavikolanu and Kayla Quinn rallied to take the second set in a tie-breaker 7-6, but the Bees pair made sure there wasn’t late suspense, winning 6-1 to gain the team a landmark victory.
F-M didn’t play again until last Thursday, when it got back into winning form by topping Cicero-North Syracuse 6-1 before a 7-0 shutout of Syracuse East a day later.
Against C-NS, Linman, Chen and Fang lost just two games in six sets of singles play, while the doubles teams of Bhattacharva-Chong, Comprix-McLean and Fousek-Jada McKenzie each had straight-set wins, too.
Meanwhile, Jamesville-DeWitt took its turn against Baldwinsville and grabbed a couple of matches, but the Red Rams still took a 5-2 defeat.
Swept in singles, J-D saw Mona Farah and Tara Pollock rout Doan and Quinn 6-1, 6-0, while Olivia Clark and Olivia Quackenbush defeated Pawelek and Budzich 7-6 (7-5), 6-3. In a three-set doubles battle, Ella Brann and Ava Harle lost to Downes and Zoanetti 5-7, 6-2, 6-3.
Christian Brothers Academy had its season opener Sept. 1 against Cazenovia, where it breezed past the Lakers 6-1.
Giselle Vlassis and Rowan Doyle both rolled in singles to go with a forfeit. The Brothers also had a trio of straight-set doubles wins, the closest of them having Clare Schaefer and Maddie Kannerviko top Ava Dalton and Nora Berg 6-3, 6-3.
Even bigger was CBA’s 7-0 shutout of Skaneateles last Tuesday afternoon that propelled the Brothers to the top of the OHSL Liberty division standings.
With Vlassis and Doyle already victorious in singles, Allie Mancini went through three sets before beating Sofia Capozza 7-6 (7-4), 4-6, 6-2. Grace Catalano and Hana Kang beat Isabelle Soderberg and Eva DeJesus 6-4, 6-2, with Meredith Sommers and Audrey Schaefer topping Kate Kissel and Emma Whipple by those same scores.
When it beat Manlius-Pebble Hill 7-0 last Thursday, CBA did not drop a set. Vlassis won her singles showdown with Amtiees Fazeli 6-1, 6-0 as Doyle topped Caroline Mezzalingua 6-0, 6-1 and Mancini beat Sabrina Loop 6-1, 6-2.
The doubles matches were a bit closer, but Catalano and Kang won 6-2, 6-2 over Fariel Mageed and Rose Fallon, with the teams of Sommer-Audrey Schaefer and Claire Schaefer-Maddie Kanerviko also winning in two sets.
MPH got just one point out of a 6-1 defeat to Skaneateles on Sept. 2, doing so when Fazeli, in first singles, blanked Kenna Ellis 6-0, 6-0.
A day earlier, Bishop Grimes lost 7-0 to Marcellus, which the Cobras followed with its own match against Sknaeateles where it again took a 7-0 defeat.
East Syracuse Minoa dropped its season opener 6-0 to Whitesboro on Sept. 1, despite three\ doubles matches where the Spartans led every time and could not hold on.
Bella Sylvester and Rhiannon Ackerman lost, 6-7 (11-9), 6-3, 7-5, to Karinia Andronovich and Julia Dzeravenets, while Jessica Baker and Terriah Bauer had a 6-7 (9-7), 6-4, 6-1 defeat to Jordyn Howlett and Tessa Nash. Margaret Mading and Caroine Sitnik also led early and, in a third-set tie-breaker, fell to Kayla Burt and Samara Giorgi 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (11-9).
ESM went up against CBA last Wednesday and lost, 7-0, the closest match coming when Sophie Jones, in third singles, took a 6-4, 6-1 defeat to Mancini.
Not until Friday, when it blanked Syracuse West 7-0, did ESM get into the win column.
