CENTRAL NEW YORK – At two different locations and in three different divisions, area high school boys tennis teams vied for glory in the Section III championships.
Skaneateles, taking part in the Class C-1 tournament at SUNY-Cortland, got a victory in first doubles from Hatcher Gutchess and Marcus McClanahan, who beat Chris Kelly and Dylan McGuire (Holland Patent) 6-0, 6-3 in the semifinals before topping Cazenovia’s Andrew Falso and Gabe Reagan 6-3, 7-5 in the title match.
Up in first singles, Max Karpinski was second, reaching the finals before falling to Cazenovia’s Traian Cherciu 6-3, 6-1, having beaten Drew Ortlieb (Lowville) 6-1, 6-1 and Glen Gaige (Holland Patent) 6-4, 6-4 to get there.
Marty McNeil’s 6-0, 6-0 shutout of Dani Williams (Mount Markham) put him in the third singles final, where he lost a 6-3, 6-4 decision to HP’s Carter Williams.
Nick Cerimeli and Ethan Pickup beat Abbie Ainsile and Madeline Briggs (Mount Markham) 6-4, 6-1 for third place in second doubles, with Jake Salzhauer topping Alex Fung (Manlius Pebble Hill) 6-1, 6-3 for that same finish in second singles
Over in Class B at Utica Parkway Courts, Marcellus had Tucker Guerina earn the championship in third singles. advancing all the way to the finals in third singles thanks to three match wins on Wednesday.
Guerina needed three sets to get past Connor Tasselmyer (Cortland) 6-1, 2-6, 6-4, beat Vince Salerino (Fulton) 7-6, 6-4 and got past Bryan Cho (New Hartford) 6-4, 6-2 in the semifnals.
Against Jamesville-DeWitt’s Anthony Fico in the finals, Guerina rolled through the first set 6-1, lost the second set by that same margin and then prevailed 6-2 in the third set to take the title.
Chris Barbaro, in first singles, fell in the quarterfinals 6-2, 6-1 to Yang, with Matt Vitale going 1-1 and taking a quarterfinal defeat to Evan Lyga (New Hartford) in second singles. Mike Deveroux and Tyler Szalach went 1-1 and lost in the quarterfinals of first doubles.
Onondaga/Westhill standout Shay Smyth reached the first singles final with a 6-3, 3-6, 6-0 win over Indian River’s Sam Yang. Against New Hartford’s David Fenner in the final, Smyth was unable to take a set in a 6-1, 6-4 defeat. Christian Loomis and Jon Massaro lost in their doubles bracket.
In the Class A sectional touranment at Cortland, West Genesee had Noah Ruston beat Kyle Giardine (Syracuse) to reach the semifinals before a 6-1, 6-2 defeat to David Fernando (Fayetteville-Manlius) and a fourth-place finish after he lost to Liverpool’s Justin Barrett 7-5, 6-1.
