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CCAA Champions One Win Away From States

Southwestern’s Johnson Into Singles Semifinals, Maple Grove’s Collins & Swanson Advance In Doubles

WILLIAMSVILLE — Southwestern’s Mikayla Johnson began the tennis postseason without incident at the Miller Tennis Center in Williamsville on Friday afternoon as the Chautauqua-Cattaraugus Athletic Association champion cruised to a pair of singles victories.

Johnson beat Caitlin Palys of Iroquois, 6-2, 6-0, in the round of 16 before topping Brooke Szymusiak of Lancaster, 6-4, 6-1, in the quarterfinals. Johnson is hoping to punch her ticket to the New York State Public High School Athletic Association Championships at Tri City Tennis Cener in Latham on Oct. 28-30.

“Mikayla used her offensive skills in first match against a very consistent opponent,” Southwestern coach Tom Anderson said. “In her second match she faced Brooke, who had a very powerful forehand and just crushed the ball. Mikayla chased down balls and kept them in play.”

The senior will now face off against Erie County Interscholastic Conference No. 1 seed Madigan Hummiston, who cruised through her first two opponents, dropping just one game in four sets of play.

Should Johnson upset the No. 1 seed, she will face the winner of Paige Szymusiak of Lancaster and Madeleine Eiss of Clarence. If not, Johnson will play the loser of that match with third place and the final spot for the state tournament up for grabs.

In the first round of play, Hummiston topped Jenna Hayes of Maple Grove, 6-0, 6-0, while CCAA No. 2 seed Bernie Gens of Fredonia topped Courtney Kessler of Williamsville North, 6-2, 7-6, before dropping her second match of the day to Eiss, 6-3, 7-5.

Gens’ teammate Kesley Vianese dropped her first match of the day to Szymusiak, 6-0, 6-1.

Leading the doubles charge for local teams is the tandem of Maddie Collins and Elise Swanson. The Lady Red Dragons’ top pair posted a 6-0, 6-2 win over Corrie Bartos and Leah Heiler of Lancaster in the opening round before taking care of Julia Behar and Emily Segal out of Williamsville North, 6-1, 6-2.

“Collins’ consistent ground strokes combined with Elise’s big serve gave them the advantage,” Anderson said. “They both play great at the net.”

Collins and Swanson will now take on Caroline Bolton and Madeleine Eiss of Clarence in the semifinals, hoping to earn a spot in the top three for a trip to Tri City next week.

Macy and Nicole Youngberg of Falconer fell in the opening round of play, dropping a 6-4, 6-3 decision to Bolton and Eiss, while Hiba Munir and Olivia Persia won their opening meeting with Jamie King and Teresa Lin of Clarence, 6-4, 3-6, 6-4. Munir and Persia then dropped a quarterfinal match against Jocelyn Fike and Nikki Kwiatkowski, 6-7, 7-6, 6-1.

Munir and Persia had four match points to advance into the semifinals, but were unable to close out the match.

Rounding out the local teams was Zayba Chauhdry and Kara Howard of Olean. The pair dropped their round of 16 match to Kareena Cheruvu and Richelle Yu of Williamsville East.

In the top half of the draw opposite Collins and Swanson is a match between Lauren Karoglan and Zoe Watson of Orchard Park against Fike and Kwiatkowski.

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