CENTRAL NEW YORK – Decades of near-total dominance of area large-school girls tennis followed Fayetteville-Manlius into the 2023 season, but was almost upended in the first week of the season.

A close, tense battle between the Hornets and Baldwinsville on Sept. 1 turned in F-M’s favor and eventually led to a hard-fought 4-3 victory.

Having opened the day before with a 7-0 shutout of Nottingham where it did not drop a single games, the Hornets found the Bees far tougher to deal with.

Controlling doubles, F-M had Lindsey Chong-Samreen Mangat and Caitlyn McLain-Angelina Fang drop just two games apiece in their matches as Anokhi Dalal and Erin McLain beat Layla Trendowski and Carmela Budzich 6-3, 6-2.

With Juila Kim and Sadie Toole beaten in three sets and singles losses from Trisha Adavikolanu and Shreya Bhaatachayra, F-M ultimately needed Selena Chen to win – and she blanked Laine Zoanetti 6-0, 6-0.

The Hornets made it three in a row last Tuesday by blanking Henninger 7-0, with Mangat, McLain and Kim all earning singles shutouts and the four doubles teams dropping just one total game in eight sets.

When it was back on the court Friday to face Cicero-North Syracuse, it was another dominant F-M performance and another 7-0 shutout.

Fang and Caitlyn McLain got through the closest doubles match, a 6-3, 6-1 win over Lauren Malec and Andrea Iqbal. Up in singles, Toole and Erin McLain won 6-0, 6-0 matches over, respectively, Meghan Obleman and Addyson Fedele, with Mangat handling Madelyn Shaw 6-1, 6-0.

Christian Brothers Academy had a key early-season showdown Sept. 1 against 2-0 Cazenovia, Helped by singles wins from Rowan Doyle, Allie Mancini and Grace Schaefer, the Brothers edged the Lakers 4-3.

Then CBA beat Skaneatlees 5-2 on Tuesday, with Doyle over Isabelle Sorderberg 6-4, 6-1 as Mancini and Audrey Schaefer also won in two sets. Doubles points went to Monica Fallon and Katrina Racelli after they got a 6-1, 6-1 romp over Millie Wu and Ellie Sharma.