CENTRAL NEW YORK – Having already won a third consecutive Section III Class C championship, the Skaneateles girls tennis team had an opportunity to continue its season in the New York State Public High School Athletic Association team tournament.
And the Lakers nearly took advantage of it, falling just one point short in Wednesday’s state qualifying match against Class B sectional champion Oneida as it lost a 4-3 decision to the Indians.
Oneida had beaten Jamesville-DeWitt 4-3 in the sectional Class B final earlier this month, and snared a key early point in singles when Lilly Gormley defeated Sofia Capozza 6-3, 6-3.
However, the Lakers easily earned the other two singles points as Kenna Ellis routed Ella McKay 6-0, 6-1 and Lily Miller followed with a 6-2, 6-0 win over Saige Meehan.
A long, tense doubles match saw the Skaneateles duo of Emma Whipple and Kate Kissel go to a third-set tie-breaker and pull out a 6-3, 6-7 (7-5), 7-6 (8-6) win over Maison Castle and Madelyn Barletta.
However, Isabelle Soderberg and Eva DeJesus lost 6-1, 6-0 to Julianna Carroll and Myah Rainbow, with Caitlin Day and Emerson Decker falling to Kaylee French and Kennedy Curro 6-3, 6-2. Bryn Butler and Lilyana Bennett had a 6-0, 6-0 defeat to Emily French and Claire Vacarro.
Before all this, Skaneateles swept to both the singles and doubles titles in the Division III sectional tournament.
In fact, the Lakers had both singles finalists, Ellis and Miller advancing to a match against one another last Friday at Oneida High School. Miller prevailed in the first set 7-5 and had the second set in a tie-breaker, but Ellis rallied, taking that tie-breaker 7-1 and then the third set 6-2.
As this went on, Soderberg and DeJesus were in their own championship, facing the Marcellus duo of Kara Wangsness and Korinne Kemp. In two sets, Soderberg and DeJesus prevailed 6-4, 6-2.
Now they all went to Drumlins for the sectional state qualifier, where in the opening round Miller trailed Cazenovia’s Rachel Molloy, but rallied for a 4-6, 6-2, 7-5 victory.
Ellis lost, 6-2, 6-3, to Liverpool’s Angelica Underwood as, in the quarterfinals, Miller could not get a game against top-seeded Christian Brothers Academy star Giselle Vlassis in a 6-0, 6-0 loss.
Moving to the doubles state qualifier, Soderberg and DeJesus won 6-2, 6-0 over Marianne Douglas and Rachel Thomas (Little Falls) before a 6-1, 6-0 quarterfinal loss to Jamesville-DeWitt’s top-seeded duo of Mona Farah and Tara Pollock.
Two Marcellus doubles teams lost in the first round, with Wangsness and Kemp falling to Trisha Adavikolanu and Lindsey Chong (Fayetteville-Manlius) 7-6, 6-2, while Claire Wrona and Sydney Colon had a 6-1, 6-2 loss to Oneida’s Myah Rainbow and Saige Meehan.
