With seeds set, Oneida looks to extend Section III girls tennis title streak

ONEIDA — Seeds are out, and the first handful of matches for Section III’s 2026 team tournament for girls tennis is scheduled for Friday afternoon.

The section seeded four classes Saturday and will play the tournament over six days with quarterfinals Monday, Oct. 5, semifinals Tuesday, Oct. 6, and finals Wednesday, Oct. 7, all hosted by higher seeds.

The No. 1 seeds are Class A Baldwinsville, Class B Fayetteville-Manlius (green), Class C Oneida and Class D Copenhagen. Oneida is an unbeaten defending champion in Class C. Fayetteville-Manlius and Copenhagen are also unbeaten, and Fayetteville-Manlius is competing in a different division after winning Class A last year in the first year of expansion from three classes to four.

The Oneida steak stands at seven consecutive sectional titles and 10 in the last 12 seasons. The Express (13-0) tops a 10-team C bracket with three matches filling out the lineup for Monday’s quarterfinals. Oneida’s first opponent will be Friday’s winner between Cortland and Mexico Academy, the eighth and ninth seeds.

Camden (8-5) plays in the first round in Class C as the No. 7 seed. The Blue Devils’ opponent at home is No. 10 Homer.

New Hartford is a third Tri-Valley league school competing in Class C. The Spartans (10-2) are seeded second and play at home Monday against the Camden/Homer winner. New Hartford was a 5-2 winner in its Sept. 22 match against Camden.

The only other class with first-round matches is D, where Westmoreland (5-5) is seeded seventh and playing at home Friday against No. 10 Manlius-Pebble Hill (3-9), with the winner advancing to play Monday at No. 2 Cazenovia (11-1).

Sauquoit Valley (9-1) is seeded third in Class D and plays a home quarterfinal against No. 6 Canastota (5-4), an opponent the Red Hawks have previously beaten twice in Center State Conference play. Clinton (5-4), seeded fifth, plays at No. 4 Skaneateles (11-4) Monday.

Rome Free Academy and Whitesboro represent the Tri-Valley league in classes A and B, respectively, and play quarterfinal matches on the road Monday. Rome Free Academy (7-4) is seeded sixth in Class A and plays at No. 3 Liverpool (11-3). Whitesboro (8-2) is seeded fifth in Class B and plays at No. 4 Oswego (5-8) Monday.

This article originally appeared on Times Telegram: With seeds set, Oneida looks to extend Section III girls tennis title streak