CENTRAL NEW YORK – On the last day of September, various area high school tennis teams began to venture into their respective Section III tournaments.
Only Manlius-Pebble Hill played in the opening round, the Class C no. 10 seed Trojans facing no. 7 seed Cazenovia and falling 4-3 to the Trojans.
Amitees Fazelli and Emily Zeitsev each won 6-0, 6-0 singles matches over, respectively, Madden Cobb and Kiana Vazquez, with a forfeit to Caroline Mezzalingua, but MPH did not win a set in any of the four doubles matches.
Christian Brothers Academy would move up to Class A where, drawing the no. 5 seed, it met no. 4 seed Central Square Monday, the reward a semifinal date with unbeaten top seed Baldwinsville.
Of course, CBA was coming off its own undefeated regular season that continued last Wednesday with a 7-0 shutout of Phoenix.
Back in action after several rainouts, the Brothers got single-set, 8-0 victories in singles from Giselle Vlassis, Rowan Doyle and Allie Mancini.
Also, in doubles, CBA’s teams of Grace Catalano-Hana Kang, Audrey Schaefer-Meredith Sommers, Claire Schaefer-Maddie Kanerviko and Jane Walsh-Claire Huslander prevailed giving up just four games between them.
Fayetteville-Manlius, the no. 2 seed in Class A, had completed its regular season last Thursday by getting a 7-0 shutout of Henninger where the Hornets surrendered just two games in 14 sets of singles play. F-M would face no. 7 seed Rome Free Academy in Monday’s quarterfinals.
Jamesville-DeWitt has endured plenty of schedule interruptions, but were able to get to 5-1 on the season last Wednesday with a 7-0 shutout of Oswego.
In single-set matches to 10 games, Hallie Bouchard edged Emery O’Brien 10-8 as Ebu Oguntola and Yara Farah also prevailed in singles. The doubles teams of Tara Pollock-Mona Farah and Tamana Nafri-Adelaide Anello each got shutouts as the teams of Ava Harle-Ella Brann and Emily Armstrong-Olivia Quackenbush also prevailed.
J-D would pick up the no. 4 seed in the Class B sectional tournament, where it would face no. 5 seed Indian River in Monday’s quarterfinal round
This came after a 5-2 defeat to Auburn on Friday where Mona Farah beat Alexandra Vitale 6-0, 6-1 and Pollock, paired with Yara Farah, beat Claire Diffin and Abigail Carr 6-4, 7-5. Anello and Ella Brann went to three sets in doubles, but lost 4-6, 6-2, 6-0 to Audrey Carr and Ashlyn Feneck.
East Syracuse Minoa returned last Wednesday and lost, 5-2, to Auburn, though Adrianna Byrd won a third-set tie-breaker in her singles match for the Spartans, edging Cara Vasile 6-1, 1-6, 7-6 (9-7).
Sophie Jones also went to three sets, but lost to Emerson Brown 6-2, 4-6, 6-1, while Bella Sylvester and Jessica Baker surrendered an early lead in a 3-6, 6-1, 6-1 defeat to Audrey Carr and Ashlyn Feneck. Erin and Emily Murnane won 6-1, 6-0 over Olivia Schwab and Sadie Morin.
But ESM did prevail 4-3 over Central Square, with a key match coming in singles where Byrd outlasted the Redhawks’ Grace Roberts 6-4, 2-6, 10-2.
Brooke Kirkpatrick won 6-2, 6-1 over Molly Giblin, while in doubles Erin Murnane paired with Angelina Baxter for one win and the other went to Angelina Brilbeck and Margaret Mading.
Another win followed on Friday, ESM topping Liverpool 5-2 with a doubles sweep, all in straight sets, and Byrd winning in singles 6-3, 6-2 over Jasmine Rawda.
