CENTRAL NEW YORK – Abundant sunshine greeted area high school girls tennis teams for their opening matches of the 2024 season, and some would quickly find their way to the win column.
And this included back-to-back local showdowns, starting Wednesday afternoon where Westhill met Skaneateles and, by taking all of the doubles matches, the Warriors pulled out a 4-3 decision over the Lakers.
Samantha Burkett and Phoebe Gumaer got it started by topping Katie Danforth and Madelyn Vance 6-0, 6-4, while Tatum Bagnell and Emily Balduzzi rolled past Makayla Barron and Georgia Kriedler 6-1, 6-2.
Also in two sets, Reagan Rogers and Emily Taylor won 6-2, 6-3 over Lily Bennett and Millie Wu, with Laura Stanton and Sike Ajagbe beating MaryKate Holst and Addy Pavlus 6-4, 6-2.
Skaneateles took all three singles matches, starting with Eva DeJesus over Julia Flegel 6-1, 6-2. Addison Ziegler beating Cadence Ramsing 6-4, 6-2 and Livia Lovenguth taking a 7-5, 6-4 win against Camryn Matthews.
Marcellus, who had won its opener over Mexico 7-0, got its own turn Friday against Westhill and emerged with its own 4-3 victory to gain a 2-0 start.
Three of the doubles matches went to three sets – and Marcellus claimed two of them, with Abby Finn and Zofia Polkowski beating out Burkett and Gumaer 7-5, 2-6, 6-2 as Caitlyn Sammon and Molly Moses topped Rogers and Taylor 6-3, 6-7 (10-8), 6-4.
Other points for Marcellus came when Anna Aupperle and Emma Dilmore swept Sike Ajagbe and Laura Stanton 6-3, 6-2 and, in singles, Xian Angiotti topping Reilly Coleman 7-5, 6-3.
To counter it, Westhill had Ramsing shut out Sofia Tufenkjian 6-0, 6-0 and Flegel beat Shaelyn Kelly 6-4, 6-2, while in a third-set doubles tiebreak Bagnell and Balduzzi held off Katie Devereaux and Adeline Kinsey 6-4, 2-6, 7-6 (7-5).
Before this, Marcellus, coming off a 9-4 campaign in 2023, shut out Mexico with singles wins from Kelly over Morgan Benton 6-1, 6-3, Tufenkjian over Jessica Hill 6-0, 7-5 and Angotti over Nataleigh Smith 7-5, 6-4.
Over in doubles, the teams of Devereaux-Kinsey, Sammon-Moses and Aupperle-Dilmore all won with ease, while Finn and Polkowski went a bit longer to beat Kinzy Laffan and Isabella Ladd 7-6, 6-3.
After it lost to Westhill, Skaneateles challenged powerful Christian Brothers Academy and though it gained some points again, it fell 5-2 to the Brothers, who claimed all four doubles matches.
DeJesus made it two singles wins in as many matches, sweeping past Clare Schaefer 6-0, 6-2, and Ziegler was just as impressive beating Maddie Kanerviko 6-1, 6-0, though Lovenguth took a 7-5, 6-4 loss to Sarah Clark.
West Genesee, who went 7-4 a season ago, looks on that same path after its season opener, where it swept the doubles against Cicero-North Syracuse and beat the Northstars 5-2.
The Wildcats’ teams of Angelina Allen-Calina Olson and Sarah Domin-Evelina Mauro lost just three total games in four sets. Sophia Lawrence and Keira Vrabel beat Kaelin Prentice and Mia Mulhern 6-3, 6-4, with Zaida Talev and Grace Yaeger getting a 7-6 (7-2), 6-2 decision over Allison Spoto and Jessica Barnes.
Over in singles, Ava Amodio fell 5-7, 6-2, 6-3 to Ainsley Hill and Kailyn Drury took a 4-6, 6-3, 7-5 defeat to Calista Nguyen, Helena Allen blanked Madelyn Shaw 6-0, 6-0.
Then WG beat East Syracuse Minoa Friday by that same 5-2 margin, the Wildcats not dropping a set in any of the doubles matches and adding a fifth point when Vrabel rallied in singles past Rhiannon Cobb 3-6, 6-4, 6-4. Drury again went to three sets but lost to Kelly Li 6-3, 6-7 (8-6), 6-3.
