Jamesville-DeWitt’s boys tennis team nearly took its first defeat of the season at Cazenovia last Monday, needing to rescue a point in singles to squeak past the Lakers 3-2.
Already, Jake Cline and Josh Frank had moved past David Marshall and Andrew Terry 6-2, 6-2, with Ishan Gajra and Alex Tso stopping Ben Kmetz and Harry McDonough 6-3, 6-3.
Each of the three singles matches went to three sets. Josh Rothenberg was unable to hold an early lead in a 4-6, 6-4, 7-5 defeat to Wyatt Lansing. David Benaroch fell to Mason Stehle 7-5, 1-6, 6-4.
So it was up to Robert Dotterer, in first singles, who lost the opening set to Nate Romig and was on the brink of defeat in a second-set tie-breaker, but managed to survive it and rally to earn a 4-6, 7-6, 7-5 victory over Romig for the clinching point.
It proved easier for J-D in Tuesday’s 6-1 win over East Syracuse Minoa, where the Spartans’ star duo of Brandon Stone and Tyler Underwood paired up for their side’s lone point in doubles, beating Dotterer and Frank 6-4, 6-2.
Otherwise, it was all Red Rams. Tso, Cline and Benaroch did not lose a game in any of their singles matches, with Tyler Lux claiming a forfeit. Cieplicki and Patick Saba won in doubles, as did Somil Aggarwal and Harshal Nanvanti, who beat A.J. Laury and Tristen McNeil 6-0, 6-1.
A 7-0 shutout of Oswego followed on Thursday, where Dotterer, Rothenberg, Benaroch and Tai Frieden lost just four games in eight sets of singles play. Gajra and Tso battled in doubles, but still beat Jacob Gerber and Gabrielle Malossi 7-5, 6-4.
But the week really was capped on Friday, when J-D went up against another undefeated side, New Hartford, and pulled out a 5-2 victory over the Spartans.
They played four singles matches, and the Rams won three of them. Dotterer defeated John Robert Corasaniti 6-1, 6-4, with Cline beating Ralph Ramos 6-3, 6-3 and Frank getting a 6-1, 6-3 decision over Harri Ernits. Ethan DellaPosta lost, 6-3, 5-7, 10-5, to Doug Hotvedt.
Moving to doubles, Gajra and Tso teamed up and defeated Sean Saltzberger and Blake Walters 7-5, 6-4, with Benaroch and Rothenberg handling Suveer Desai and Oscar Klempay 6-1, 6-2.
CBA got back on the court last Tuesday and blanked Phoenix, 5-0, with Dean Vlassis and Jameson Keppeler each getting 6-0, 6-0 singles wins over, respectively, Ned Greenough and Scott Williams-Clark, with Greg Maziuk handling Lorenzo Camponino 6-1, 6-2.
In doubles, Steve Castellini and Tommy Daviau won again, toppling Ben Bulgrien and Zach VanGorder in another 6-1, 6-2 decision, with Geoff Parkes and Josh Popp beating Kadin May and Brandon Mironti by scores of 6-0 and 6-4.
But then the Brothers had its own close call on Wednesday, against Manlius-Pebble Hill, needing an all-out effort to turn back the Trojans 3-2.
With MPH’s Andrew Mariados sweeping Vlassis 6-0, 6-0 and CBA’s Keppeler beating Ini Oguntola 6-0, 6-3, much hinged on second singles, where Greg Maziuk trailed, early but made a big comeback to defeat Ryley Amond 4-6, 6-3, 6-3.
Each of the doubles matches went to three sets. The Trojans snared a point when Max Charlamb and Phillip Kim held off Daviau and Popp 6-7, 6-3, 10-8, but CBA still got the point it needed when Daviau, paired with Castellini, made their own comeback, beating Cole Meier and Triolk Reddy in three sets 4-6, 6-2, 6-4.
Just before that, MPH won, 4-1, over Onondaga last Tuesday afternoon. The four singles matches included Mariados handling Ryan Cass 6-0, 6-0, with Oguntola topping Lauren Aguirre 6-1, 6-2 as Kirthr Martin took a 7-5, 7-6 (7-4) defeat to Dan Kelly.
Winning both points in doubles, MPH saw Meier and Reddy beat Zach Hay and Matt Marcy 6-0, 6-2, with Charlamb and Kim topping Corey Guyder and Tayler Thunderstone in straight sets 6-0, 6-1.
ESM had a 5-2 defeat to Fulton on Thursday afternoon, with Underwood and McNeil paring up to beat Charles Hyland and Eric Shear 6-1, 6-2, while Brett Dufore and Ryan Vollmer rallying in three sets to defeat Tom Distin and Dakota Stoutenger 4-6, 6-2, 6-1. Laury, Kelvin Cheng and Anson Cheng each lost their singles matches in two sets. A 6-1 defeat to Homer followed a day later.
CBA, on Friday, rolled past the same Cazenovia side J-D had struggled with in a 4-1 decision. Though Vlassis lost, 6-1, 6-0, to Nate Romig, Maziuk beat Lansing 6-2, 6-2, with Keppeler defeating Stehle 6-2, 6-4. In a three-set doubles battle, Castellini and Daviau stopped Kmetz and McDonough 6-4, 6-7, 6-2, while Parkes and Popp beat David Marshall and Adam Terry in another 6-2, 6-2 decision.
