ONONDAGA COUNTY – It’s fair to say that the Cicero-North Syracuse boys tennis team is enjoying one of its best seasons in program history, capped by the sweep it pulled off over main rival Liverpool.
Having already defeated the Warriors 5-2 on April 28, the Northstars were even better in the rematch, not letting the Warriors get a point on the board on the way to a 7-0 shutout.
The singles matches were all lopsided, Wyatt Dupell putting away Mason Pinchin 6-0, 6-0 as Matthew Jordan stopped John Ioannidis 6-1, 6-1 and Brandon Nguyen rolling past Jimmy Bui 6-0, 6-1.
Liverpool put up far more of a fight in doubles, where Aiden Hunter and Andrew Caimano got to a third set with C-NS’s Ryan Keil and Peter Geil, but the Northstars pair still won it 6-3, 6-7 (10-8), 6-2.
Dan Jordan and Brady Petranchuk won 7-6 (7-5), 6-4 over James Welch and William Balduf, with Timothy Mai and Joe DeGroat handling Brett Ritter and Anthony Ranieri 6-3, 6-1 as Mike DeGroat and Andrew George worked past Evan Miller and Cole Potrzeba 6-4, 6-1.
C-NS did not find the same success against unbeaten Fayetteville-Manlius a day later, the Northstars shut out 7-0 by the Hornets.
Keil, going to singles, did make a second-set tie-breaker against Xavier Sul, but still lost 6-2, 7-6 (7-1) as F-M gave up just one game in four doubles matches, with Nguyen and Matthew Jordan only picking up a game apiece in their singles defeats.
But C-NS turned it around Wednesday in a 6-1 win over West Genesee, with Dupell blanking Nathan Smith 6-0, 6-0 and Matthew Jordan putting away Ian Palmieri 6-1, 6-0 as Nguyen beat John Diem 6-0, 6-1.
Taking three of the four doubles matches, the Northstars had Mai and Joe DeGroat beat Josh Pierce and Sam Barth 6-0, 6-4, with Gill and Keil beating Barth and Nate Ruston 6-2, 6-1 as George and Mike DeGroat won 6-1, 6-0 over Jameson Bard and Tanner Young.
When Liverpool met F-M on Wednesday, it was dealt its own 7-0 defeat, though Balduf nearly got a point in singles, pushing Sul to a third-set tie-breaker before losing 6-2, 1-6, 7-6 (8-6). Hunter and Caimano played the closest doubles match, falling to Justin Dunn and Kaelem Michel 6-2, 6-1.
Then two matches followed on Thursday, Liverpool able to beat West Genesee 5-2 as Balduf and Potrzeba each won in singles in straight sets, with the doubles teams of Caimano-Welch, Raineri-Ritter and Jimmy Bui-Aydan Presley also gaining points.
But Liverpool lost 7-0 to Baldwinsville. Raineri played the closest singles match , a 6-2, 6-1 defeat to Logan Bolton. Caimano and Hunter played a close second set in doubles, but fell to Aidan Delaney and Zach Pendergast 6-0, 6-4. Another 7-0 defeat to the Bees followed a day later.
C-NS lost a rematch with F-M 6-1 on Friday, at least getting a point when George and Mike DeGroat beat Anay Dalal and James Hoehner 6-3, 6-4. The Hornets swept the others, with Mai closest in singles as he lost 6-1, 6-3 to Sul.
