ONONDAGA COUNTY – A week’s worth of rest, enforced by various weather situations, did not dull one bit the competitive edge of the Baldwinsville boys tennis team as it kept pace with Fayetteville-Manlius atop the SCAC Metro division.
The Bees had its second match with Liverpool last Wednesday afternoon and won it by a 5-2 margin, slightly closer than the 6-1 win it had over the Warriors in the season opener two weeks earlier.
This was because Liverpool took two of three singles matches, from Justin Barrett and Patrick Clancy, with Eric Ventura offering the counter on B’ville’s part when he shut out Aydan Presley 6-0, 6-0.
Not dropping a set in doubles, the Bees got a challenge in second doubles, but Zach Pendergast and Ethon Haahr got through it, taking a 6-2, 7-5 win over Dan Haynes and Greyson Valente.
Mason Doan and Andrew Jung worked past Andrew Wadle and Kasey Maher 6-4, 6-2, with Kai Wilson and Nick Fogu handling Matt McKeon and John Ioannidis 6-2, 6-1. Connor Donovan and Hugh Wilmott earned a point when they topped Edesiri Uloho and Basan Gautam 6-1, 6-2.
In Thursday’s match against Cicero-North Syracuse, the Bees earned a 7-0 shutout. Doan and Alex Trasher joined Ventura as singles winners, with the doubles teams of Pendergast-Haahr, Fogu-Wilson, Donovan-Greg Ramin and Nick Helbig-Andrew Jung all successful, too.
B’ville then improved to 6-0 on Friday with a second win this spring over West Genesee, this one by a 6-1 margin. Jack Forman took a turn in singles and lost, 6-1, 6-2, to Ty’san Scott, but Ventura shut out Dan Alvaro 6-0, 6-0 and Doan beat Joe Paoli 6-1, 6-2.
One doubles match was forfeited, but Pendergast and Haahr blanked Jacob Dalton and Nate Ruston 6-0, 6-0, with Wilmott and Brandon Dougherty pairing up to beat Jonah Hanlon and Dhruv Sharma 6-2, 6-1. In two sets, Fogu and Wilson worked their way to a 6-3, 6-1 win over Sawyer Ruston and John McCann.
All of this, plus Tuesday’s match against Jamesville-DeWitt, leads the Bees to the showdown this Thursday against F-M likely to decide the regular-season league SCAC Metro title.
