SYRACUSE – Not content with a sweep of the Section III Division I singles and doubles titles, Baldwinsville girls tennis players looked for a lot more in the sectional state qualifying tournament.
With three berths in next weekend’s New York State Public High School Athletic Association tournament in Schenectady at stake, the Bees put itself in position to have four of the 12 players in the Section III contingent – and all four of them made it by getting to the championship round.
From their top seed in doubles, Sonia Nadzan and Elaina Nesbitt got going with a 6-2, 6-1 win over Oneida’s Maddie Barretta and Claire Vaccaro, followed by a 6-2, 6–0 quarterfinal romp over Westhill’s Isabella Johnson and Kathleen Rogers.
Now it was Nadzan and Nesbitt against the familiar Fayetteville-Manlius duo of Selena Chen and Shreya Bhattacharya in Thursday’s semifinals. Continuing their surge, the Bees’ pair won 6-2, 6-3, giving Nesbitt a second trip to the state tournament as she went with Hannah Gould a year ago.
Still, the tournament title was at stake, and against Oneida’s Myah Rainbow and Julianna Caroli, Nadzan and Nesbitt again were dominant, taking the first set 6-1 and the second set 6-1.
As this went on, B’ville’s singles duo of Mira Nadzan and Ayla Kalfass both got to Thursday’s semifinals, knowing that at least one of them was state tournament-bound.
Kalfass worked form the no. 4 seed, winning 6-2, 6-0 over Sofia Ziankoski (Bishop Grimes) and then taking out Angelica Underwood (Liverpool) 6-2, 6-2 to earn a semifinal date with MPH’s top seed, Amitees Fazeli.
All that competition against tough large-school opponents paid off here for Kalfass, who took the first set 6-4 and, in the second set, prevailed 6-3 to secure her state tournament berth.
Nadzan, holding the no. 3 seed, Routed Fariel Mageed (Manlius Pebble Hill) 6-0, 6-1 and then put away Skaneateles’ Eva DeJesus 6-3, 6-1 to earn a semifinal berth against the favored no. 2 seed, Jamesville-DeWitt’s Mona Farah, who had only lost one game in her first two matches.
Battling through injury, Nadzan managed to take Farah, a three-time state tournament participant, to a third set, but dropped that set as Farah went on to defeat Kalfass 6-2, 6-2 in the finals.
Now having to beat Fazeli in the third-place match to advance to the state tournament, Nadzan showed poise and confidence, taking the first set 6-3 and the second set 6-4 to join her three Bees teammates in Schenectady.
