CENTRAL NEW YORK – Sporting a perfect 5-0 record, the Cazenovia boys tennis team went into its busiest stretch of the regular season, with four scheduled matches bridging April and May.
Of them, none was more important than last Thursday afternoon’s showdown with Chittenango, two undefeated sides who had each won their first eight matches of the season. And it was the Lakers getting the best of it, beating the Bears 4-1 with a total domination in each of the three singles matches.
Not only did Traian Cherciu beat Vince DiNatale 6-0, 6-0, those same scores were earned by Garret Lounsbury topping Seamus Gardner and Gabe Reagan as he shut out Ian Baldwin.
Chittenango got its point in doubles, where Bernardo Bortovski and Cole Thomas got past Ethan Camp and Cy Lurie 6-2, 6-1, but the Lakers’ Evan Molloy and Max Reger won 6-3, 6-2 over Seth Boulter and Logan Bronner.
Cazenovia’s crowded stretch started last Monday with the Lakers challenged by 4-0 Manlius Pebble Hill – and passing that test, beating the Trojans 4-1 largely on the strength of its singles play.
Lounsbury got it going in second singles by shutting out Jon Howard 6-0, 6-0. Cherciu had a 6-2, 6-1 win over Jasmin Zaman, with Gabe Reagan working past Savir Gambhir 6-2, 6-0.
Gaining a point in first doubles, Reger and Molloy survived a first-set tiebreak to beat Abe Salomon and Devan Trikha 7-6, 6-0, while Cy Lurie and Ethan Camp had a 2-6, 6-1, 6-0 defeat to Andy and Sam Lurvey.
In a non-league match Tuesday at Liverpool, rain shortened the contest, but not before the Lakers earned more than enough points to put away the Warriors 4-0.
Lounsbury routed Finnegan O’Toole 6-1, 6-0 and Reagan handled Aydan Presley 6-1, 6-1, even as Cherciu trailed Liverpool singles star Justin Barrett in the second set when the match was called.
In single-set doubles matches to eight games, Camp and Lurie got past Greyson Valent and Kasey Maher 8-4 defeat, while Reger and Molloy won, 8-1, over Patrick Clancy and Joe Ciotti.
Cazenovia handled Phoenix 5-0 on Wednesday, Reger blanking Logan Bean 6-0, 6-0 in singles as Cherciu and Molloy also got eay singles wins. Lounsbury and Reagan ripped Sam Pritting and Liam Zalewski 6-0, 6-0 as Robbie Dorus and Liam Robertson earned a point 6-1, 6-1 over Jackson Giacobbi and Owen Klock.
Then, in Friday’s match at Marcellus, the Lakers beat the Mustangs 5-0 to improve its overall record to 10-0 with matches set for this week against Skaneateles, CBA and Cortland.
Chittenango had its own match with MPH a day after Cazenovia did, with single-set battles to 10 games, and the Bears were able to edge the Trojans 3-2.
In the decisive match, Noah Edwards faced Gambhir and they were tied, 10-10, going to a tiebreak that Edwards won 7-3. Already, Vince DiNatale and Seamus Gardner beat Salomon and Trikha 10-3, with Seth Boulter taking his singles match 10-1 over Howard to mnake up for Logan Bronner falling to Zaman by that same score.
Though it was closer on Wednesday, Chittenango turned back Skaneateles 3-2, by getting 6-0, 6-0 singles shutouts from Seth Boulter over Case Pavlus and Bernardo Bortovski over Patrick Scott. Edwards and Cole Thomas sealed the third point when they beat James Lovier and Kevin Torrisi 6-2, 6-1.
A busy weekend started Friday with the Bears defeating Homer 5-0 and then, on Saturday, topping Pulaski 4-1, the wins pushing Chittenango’s overall mark to 10-1 as it would also face CBA this week, plus Westhill and Marcellus.
