SCHENECTADY – Leading the Section III contingent into the New York State Public High School Athletic Association championships in Schenectady, Jamesville-DeWitt junior Mona Farah would have the most success of any local player.
Originally, the tournament was set to take place indoors at Schenectady’s Sportime facility, which hosted the NYSPHSAA tournament in 2021 and 2022. But a fire at that complex earlier this year led to reconstruction that was still ongoing in the areas where spectators were usually allowed.
This, along with good outdoor weather, allowed the tournament to get moved across town to Schenectady’s Central Park, where things got underway Thursday after a brief rain delay.
Farah, in the opening round, faced Middletown’s Cymone Crump. It didn’t take long as, dropping just a single games, Farah prevailed in straight sets 6-1, 6-0.
Then, in the round of 16, it was Farah against Scarsdale’s Charlene Dong. Unable to get much going, Farah fell in two sets, each of them by equal 6-2 margins.
As it turned out, Farah was the only Section III player, singles or doubles, to get out of the first round.
The Fayetteville-Manlius doubles teams of Selena Chen and Shreya Bhattacharya had gone through plenty of pressure a week earlier in the sectional state qualifier at Drumlins, beating their own Hornets teammates, Trisha Adavikolanu and Lindsay Chong, in the third-place match to advance.
But in Schenectady, it was Bhattacharya and Chen who would fall in the first round, running into Saratoga Springs’ Claire Dooley and Allison Jones, who took the first set 6-0 and the second set 6-3.
Also taking first-round defeats was doubles teams from Baldwinsville (Sonia Nadzan and Lainey Nesbitt and Oneida (Myah Rainbow and Julianna Caroli), along with B’ville singles stars Mira Nadzan and Ayla Kalfass.
