CENTRAL NEW YORK – More accolades and honors were earned by area high school girls tennis players from several different schools as they worked through Section III and state qualifying tournaments.
Christian Brothers Academy standout Giselle Vlassis solidified her status as the top singles player in the area, rarely getting challenged on the way to the Division I championship Oct. 14 at Oneida High School.
Even the final, against Baldwinsville eighth-grader Mira Nadzan, was lopsided, with Vlassis prevailing 6-1, 6-0 and earning the top seed for the state qualifier.
Once there, Vlassis did not lose a game against Samantha Booth (Watertown IHC) or Lily Miller (Skaneateles), leading to a semifinal with Liverpool’s Angelica Underwood that Vlassis again won in straight sets.
Waiting in that championship match was Manlius Pebble Hill’s Amitees Fazeli, who had earned the Division IV singles championship when,in the final against Booth, she won in two sets 6-4, 6-2.
Then, in the state qualifier, Fazeli won 6-2, 6-0 over Victoria Cioni (New Hartford) in the first round and topped Baldwinsville’s Ayla Kalfass 6-1, 6-0 in the semifinals.
When Fazeli beat Nadzan in the semifinals, she clinched a state tournament berth, even though, in the finals, she, like so many others, was overwhelmed by Vlassis, who won 6-0, 6-0.
Fazeli’s MPH teammate, Emily Zaitsev, also reached the state qualifier, winning her opening-round match over Westmoreland’s Kiersten Tynatshion 6-0, 6-1 before a 6-0, 6-0 loss to Nadzan.
A doubles title in Division II went to Jamesville-DeWitt’s Mona Farah and Tara Pollock, who got a 6-0, 6-0 shutout over New Hartford’s Lilian Goodemote and Hana Sabanovic in the finals.
Fayetteville-Manilus saw its doubles team of Trisha Adavikolanu and Lindsey Chong nearly win against B’ville’s Hannah Gould and Elaina Nesbitt, dropping a tight 7-5, 5-7, 6-4 decision.
As the top seed in the doubles state qualifier, Farah and Pollock dropped just one game in early-round wins over Mariam Watkins-Mariella Sauer (Beaver River) and Isabelle Soderberg-Eva DeJesus (Skaneateles).
Then, in the semifinals against F-M’s Lina Limam and Katya Quinn, Farah and Pollock again won, setting up a final against Gould and Nesbitt where they dropped a single game and won 6-1, 6-0.
Limam and Quinn had to win the consolation match against Auburn’s Claire Diffin and Abby Carr – and did so, joining Farah, Pollock, Vlassis and Fazeli in reaching the state tournament.
Adavikolanu and Chong won in the opening round 7-6, 6-2 over Kara Wangsness and Korinne Kemp (Marcellus) and led Diffin and Carr in the quarterfinals before taking a 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 defeat.
Vlassis, Fazeli, Farah, Pollock, Limam and Quinn all begin their state tournament action on Thursday at Sportime in Schenectady, with singles matches starting at 8:30 a.m. and doubles matches at 11 a.m.
