UTICA — Play went on after the sun set at Parkway on Thursday and the Oneida Express extended a Section III tennis championship streak with a win in the final match Class B final against Jamesville-DeWitt.
Oneida, the No. 1 seed, won its sixth consecutive championship and ninth of the last 11, with a 4-3 victory. The competition ended with Peyton Hoang and Sage Hanifin winning their third set against Wenyan Ma and Anna Hasegawa under the lights at the complex.
More: 2023: Unbeaten Oneida wins fifth straight Section III tennis title
Hoang and Hanifin, playing third doubles, trailed 2-1, 3-2 and 4-3 in the third set and broke serve each time on the way to closing out a 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 championship-clinching victory. Only three games of the final set were won on serve.
That was the only match to go three sets, but Maddie Barretta won at second singles for the Express by winning tie-breakers in both sets of her match against Yara Farah. Barretta won 7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (7-4).
Oneida (18-1) won two of three singles matches and split four in doubles against No. 3 Jamesville-DeWitt (12-4) which shuffled its lineup from Tuesday’s 4-3 semifinal win at No. 2 Whitesboro.
“I knew they’d play one of two lineups,” Oneida coach Todd Hicks said. “I expected it come down to three matches: second and third singles, and third doubles.”
Second singles and third doubles proved to be the most closely contested matches. Oneida’s Emily French, one of two four-year seniors in the lineup, defeated Olivia Quackenbush 6-2, 6-1 at thid singles.
French had played doubles with classmate Myah Rainbow in the 5-1 Express semifinal win over Camden, and had won her only other singles match this season.
Asha Viswanathan moved up from second single to first for the Red Rams and defeated Kaylee French 6-3, 6-3.
Jamesville-DeWitt swapped its first and third single positions with its top doubles team. Barretta and Emily French won their singles matches for Oneida, and Mona Farah and Olivia Clark took the No. 1 doubles match for Jamesville-DeWitt. The Farah/Clark tandem defeated Rainbow and Tessa Myatt 6-1, 6-1.
The second Oneida doubles team of Lexi DeGroat and Phoebe Fuller defeated Ella Azria and Jaeda Robinson 6-4, 6-2.
The Class B championship advances the Express to a state qualifier match ahead of regional playoff competition at a Section II site. Oneida returns to the Parkway Saturday to play the winner of Friday’s Class C final between Copenhagen and Cazenovia. Oneida defeated Copenhagen 4-3 last year after beating Whitesboro in the Class B final.
Class A
OCTOBER 7 QUARTERFINALS
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No. 1 Fayetteville-Manlius 7, No. 8 Central Square 0
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No. 2 Baldwinsville 7, No. 7 Auburn 0
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No. 6 Rome Free Academy 5, No. 3 East Syracuse-Minoa 2
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No. 5 Syracuse-Christian Brothers Academy 7, No. 4 Liverpool 0
OCTOBER 8 SEMIFINALS
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No. 1 Fayetteville-Manlius 6, No. 5 Syracuse-Christian Brothers Academy 1
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No. 2 Baldwinsville 6, No. 6 Rome Free Academy 0
OCTOBER 10 FINAL (rescheduled from October 9)
Class B
OCTOBER 7 QUARTERFINALS
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No. 1 Oneida 5, No. 8 Carthage 0
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No. 2 Whitesboro 6, No. 7 South Jefferson 1
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No. 3 Jamesville-DeWitt 6, No. 6 New Hartford 1
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No. 4 Camden 3, No. 5 South Jefferson 2
OCTOBER 8 SEMIFINALS
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No. 1 Oneida 5, No. 4 Camden 1
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No. 3 Jamesville-DeWitt 4, No. 2 Whitesboro 3
OCTOBER 10 FINAL (rescheduled from October 9)
Class C
OCTOBER 4 FIRST ROUND
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No. 6 Lowville Academy 4, No. 11 Canastota 1
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No. 7 Westmoreland 4, No. 10 Little Falls 1
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No. 8 Skaneateles 4, No. 9 Manlius-Pebble Hill 3
OCTOBER 7 QUARTERFINALS
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No. 2 Copenhagen 5, No. 7 Westmoreland 0
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No. 6 Lowville Academy 3, No. 3 Sauquoit Valley 2
OCTOBER 8 QUARTERFINALS
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No. 4 Marcellus 4, No. 5 General Brown 2
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No. 1 Cazenovia 6, No. 8 Skaneateles 1
OCTOBER 9 SEMIFINAL
OCTOBER 10 SEMIFINAL
OCTOBER 11 FINAL
OCTOBER 12 B/C REGIONAL QUALIFIER
This article originally appeared on Times Telegram: Oneida girls win sixth consecutive Section 3 tennis title
