East Hampton’s girls tennis team started the postseason with a bang, beating Bay Shore 5-2 in its first team match at home last Thursday. Bonac swept the singles competition, with Ella Menu defeating Willow Gerlak 6-0, 6-2 at first singles, Fallon Centalonza defeating Reagan Finnerty 6-1, 6-0 at second singles, and Molly Stillman defeating Caelyn Dean 6-1, 6-0 at third singles. Stillman has yet to lose a match this year.
On the doubles courts, Ava Mintz and Bunny Waserstein lost to Ashley Steward and Cassidy Mott in three sets, 2-6, 6-4, 2-6, at first doubles. Dylan Centalonza and Ella Field beat Moira Belford and Emma Van Guilder 6-4, 6-0 at second doubles. Claire Dorn and Gila Minkow beat Carina Borruto and Baela MacGregor at third doubles, dropping the first set 5-7, winning the second 6-4, and taking the third-set tiebreak 7-3. At fourth doubles, Rafaela DeMartis and Klara Murphy lost to Brianna Marale and Georgia Holdsworth 2-6, 6-2, 5-7.
The Bonackers head to Commack today at 2 p.m. for the second round of team competition.
“It’s going to be a tough match,” said Krista Brooks, Bonac’s head coach. “They’re fourth seed, we were fifth. They were undefeated.”
In the individual competition at William Floyd last Saturday, Mintz and Minkow, Dylan Centalonza and Field, Dorn and Waserstein, and DeMartis and Murphy all won their first-round doubles matches but lost in the second round.
In singles play, Menu, Fallon Centalonza, and Stillman all won their first-round matches.
Fallon Centalonza and Stillman also won their second-round matches. Menu was seeded third and received a second-round bye. The wins qualify all three for the Suffolk County tournament in Smithtown on Saturday.
“They’re a good bunch. They’ve worked hard,” Brooks said. “Ella went from doubles to singles. Fallon went from doubles to singles, and they’re just crushing it. They’re working hard. They don’t give up.”
