Canfield doubles team has top seed

By Dan Hiner

dhiner@vindy.com

The Division I girls tennis sectional tournament continues today in Canton and the greater Youngstown area will be well represented. In total, 24 athletes from Warren Harding, Boardman, Austintown Fitch, Canfield and Niles will participate.

The tournament will be held at Jackson Park in Canton and begins at 9 a.m.

Canfield’s Sydney Cianciola and Cece Economus are the top seed in the doubles bracket. They’ll play the New Philadelphia-Canton McKinley winner in the second round.

Cianciola and Economus advanced to districts in 2017, but lost in the first round.

Warren Harding and Boardman’s doubles teams as well as a second Canfield team have a tough hill to climb.

Harding’s Zacora McCullough and Megan Williams will play Boardman’s Jersey Gorby and Rithika Vangal while Canfield’s Jessica Lee and Reagen Todd will take on Harding’s Brianna Hoolihan and Sydney Lucko.

The Harding-Boardman winner will play Lake and the Harding-Canfield winner will play No. 3 seed Jackson in second-round matchups.

Niles’ team of Ravyn MehIe and Joey Gioiello also have a first-round match with Louisville’s Abi Nieschwitz and Kirsten St. Clair. The winner will play Jackson’s Jillian Cardi and Marissa Schoeppner, the No. 4 seed.

Boardman’s Mia Hammerton and Kira Vasko, and Austintown’s Christa Schall and Amera Besner and Tianna Amann and Kaylee Hoskins also will compete.

In the singles bracket, Boardman’s Ava Valko is the No. 3 seed with Canfield’s Anna Olsen (No. 2) and Kate Ross (No. 4) among the top four seeds. All four seeds have a first-round bye.

Ross qualified for districts last year in doubles, but was knocked out in the first round.

The quarterfinals will be held on Thursday at 3:30 p.m. and the semifinals will take place on Saturday.

Monday in Solon, Howland’s doubles team of Katie Li and Francesca Elisco lost to Mayfield’s Shannon McGill and Katerina Ng (6-0, 6-2) in that sectional.