UTICA – All the work done in the last two months by area high school boys tennis players would come down to a single day of competition.
Skaneateles, in Class C-1, and West Genesee, in Class A, both got victories in their respective Section III tournaments on a sun-splashed Thursday at Utica Parkway Courts.
And in the case of the Lakers, it came in the form of an overall team title as it won three of the five events, including both doubles divisions, to fend off Cazenovia, who won the other two singles divisions.
Marcus McClanahan won third singles for Skaneateles, getting crucial points for his side when he rallied and, in a third-set tie-breaker, beat Cazenovia’s Jake Wardel 5-7, 6-4, 7-6 in the semifinals.
Meanwhile, Marcellus saw Matt Vitale win his semifinal 6-4, 6-0 over Canastota’s Bryan DeMott, but in the final McClanahan maintained his momentum and beat Vitale in straight sets 6-4, 6-1.
Hatcher Gutchess and Andrew Neumann conquered first doubles, rallying in the semifinals to beat Cazenovia’s Andrew Falso and Garret Lounsbury 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 before a 6-1, 6-2 romp over Holland Patent’s Thomas Breil and Carter Williams in the championship round.
In second doubles, Trevor Knupp and Duncan Raddant had to beat the Marcellus duo of Mike Deveroux and Tucker Guerina 6-0, 6-0 in the semifinals to reach a title match where, against Cazenovia’s Tristan Alvisi and Lincoln Katleski, Knupp and Raddant prevailed 6-1, 7-5.
Max Karpinski added a third-place finish in first singles, where he beat Marcellus’ Chris Barbaro 6-2, 6-0, while in second singles Marty McNeil got third place when he beat HP’s Jeff Dewar 6-3, 6-4. The Mustangs also had Tyler Szalach and Austin Voss losing in the first round of first doubles to Gutchess and Neumann.
West Genesee, meanwhile, would see Matt Mannara and Noah Ruston prevail in first doubles without dropping a set in any of its three matches.
Mannara and Ruston blanked Marcus Baker and Josh Chun (Oswego) 6-0, 6-0, then topped Ryan Hill and Brandon Millias (Cicero-North Syracuse 6-0, 7-5) before a final where they ousted Baldwinsville’s top-seeded duo of Max Funicello and Nick Licciardello 7-6, 7-5.
Another run to the finals was made in third singles by the Wildcats’ Ben Paoli, who handled Owen Peck (Central Square) 6-0, 6-1 and then knocked off the top seed, B’ville’s Connor Tutor, 7-5, 7-6, only to drop a 6-1, 6-3 title match to Fayetteville-Manlius’ Fergus Brady.
In second doubles, WG’s Dan Good and Jonathan Welles finished fourth, dropping their semifinal 6-1, 6-2 to C-NS’s Ethan and Wyatt Dupell.
Before this, Onondaga-Westhill took part in the Class B sectional tournament, where it reached the finals in two different divisions.
Shay Smyth, competing in second singles, beat Ryan Lusher (Oneida) 6-0, 6-0 and then topped Lucas Kritz (New Hartford) 6-4, 6-2 in the semifinals, only to get stopped at the end by Jamesville-DeWitt’ Mark Bratslavsky, who took the championship match 6-3, 6-4.
Harshdeep Banga and Sophia Featherstone, by beating Jackson Hendersno and Elijah Smith (Homer) 6-3, 6-1, advanced to the second doubles semifinals before they topped Jamesville-DeWitt’s Nathan Chen and Ryan Collins, only to lose the final 6-0, 6-0 to Oneida’s Drew Hicks and Seth O’Connell.
Angelo Carr and Nate Hay lost 7-5, 6-2 to New Hartford’s David Berg and Kyle Grover in the opening round of first doubles, while Paul Okhman, in third singles, fell to another Spartans player, Nate Berntson, 7-6, 6-4.
