CENTRAL NEW YORK – Before all of the other fall sports, it’s girls tennis which starts Section III post-season competition with its team tournaments which got underway late last week.
In Class C, Skaneateles held the no. 8 seed and, by holding off no. 9 seed Manlius Pebble Hill 5-2 in Friday’s opening round, gained a spot in the quarterfinals against top seed Cazenovia on Monday afternoon.
With Katie Danforth getting a point in singles by forfeit, Skaneateles had to earn three other points on the court – and did so.
Addison Zieler defeated Jenny He 6-2, 6-0, while in doubles Millie Wu and Lily Bennett handled Hailey Castrillon and Nia Lewis 6-1, 6-2. The fourth point came when MaryKate Holst and Addy Pavlus won 6-0, 6-2 over Sarah Ma and Sophia Dowhy.
Marcellus is the no. 4 seed and would meet no. 5 seed General Brown in the quarterfinals. Before this, the Mustangs took on MPH last Tuesday and, aided by its doubles teams and the forfeit of a singles match, edged the Trojans by a score of 4-3.
Three of the four contested doubles matches went in the Mustangs’ favor. Shaelyn Kelly and Katie Devereaux beat Amy Walsh and Mira Zhang 6-2, 6-3, with Molly Moses and Emma Dilmore topping Dowhy and Nia Lewis 6-3, 6-0. Caitlyn Sammon and Catherine Benedetto rolled to a 6-1, 6-2 win over Ma and Castrillon.
In matches earlier in the week, Skaneateles first shut out out Pulaski 7-0. Desi Pienaar took a turn in singles and won 6-3, 6-4 over Maddie Ives, wit Danforth topping Shannon Carnes 6-3, 6-2 and Zieler blanking Alexandria Searer 6-0, 6-0.
All the contested doubles matches were won by the Lakers in two sets, the closest of them from Livia Lovenguth and Madelyn Vance beating Nora Tighe and Arabella Hefti 6-3, 6-2.
However, Skaneateles took a 5-2 loss to Cazenovia in what amounted to a playoff preview a day later, the Lakers clash seeing Eva DeJesus beat Leah Bell 6-1, 6-2 and Zieler top Madden Cobb 6-3, 6-3, but the other Lakers claiming all four doubles matches, including one that went to three sets where Vance and Makayla Barron fell to Ava Galton and Lila Campagna 6-4, 4-6, 6-1.
Westhill prevailed Monday over Cortland 6-0, with Julia Flegel impressive in first singles defeating Tayln Kinthiseng 6-0, 6-3 as Cadence Ramsing beat Anelia Corbin 6-1, 6-3 and Camryn Matthews topping Alivia Reif.
The doubles teams of Samantha Burkett-Phoebe Gumaer, Tatum Bagnell-Emily Balduzzi and Sike Ajagbe-Laura Stanton dropped just four games in six combined sets as Emily Taylor and Reagan Rogers beat Emilia Johnson and Cassilyn Elliott 7-5, 6-2.
In Friday’s 4-3 defeat to Chittenango Westhill had Bagnell beat Molly Uryniak 8-6 in a single-set singles match and Hannah Gillis top Saige Burton 8-2, with Angelina Valerino and Brooke Allen winning in doubles 8-2 over Lilyana Hrynio and Maddie Horton.
West Genesee won its regular-season finale Tuesday Tuesday with a 6-1 win over Auburn with straight-set doubles wins from the teams of Angelina Allen-Calina Olson, Ava Amodio-Kailyn Drury and Sophia Lawrence-Zaida Talev.
The only match that went to three sets saw the Wildcats’ Evelina Mauro come from behind to defeat Madison Fredericksen 3-6, 6-4, 10-2, while Sarah Domin beat Lauren Sincebaugh 6-4, 6-0 and Helena Allen got past Alice Caruso 6-3, 6-4.
