Once again, West Genesee’s boys tennis brother tandem of Brent and Garrett Boleslav are making their way to Queens in pursuit of a state championship.
The Boleslavs secured their bid through winning the Section III state qualifying tournament, held Thursday and Friday at Utica’s Mott Courts and Syracuse University’s Skytop Courts, proving so tough that, in four matches, they did not drop a single set.
From its top seed, the Boleslavs started out in the round of 16 with a 6-0, 6-0 shutout over Poland’s Cameron Loomis and Cameron Tabor. From there, they went on to the quarterfinals, where Brent and Garrett turned back Fayetteville-Manlius’ James DeSorbo and Vince Sorrentino 6-2, 6-1.
Since the top three finishers in the doubles division advanced to the state tournament, the Boleslsavs only needed to win their semifinal to qualify. Another F-M duo, Taran Judge and Chris Lansing, awaited, but Brent and Garrett beat them in two sets 6-0, 6-3.
It all led to the May 22 final that pitted the Boleslavs against East Syracuse Minoa’s Brandon Stone and Tyler Underwood, who had beaten another WG duo, Connor McGuigan and Aaron Wierbinski, in their quarterfinal 6-0 6-1.
McGuigan and Wierbinski rallied in the first round to beat Baldwinsville’s Hunter Cohen-Ciampichini and Nick Walker 4-6, 6-4, 6-2, while Westhill’s Brian Sheridan and Matt Zabycz lost, 6-0, 7-6, to Cooperstown’s Tyler Bertram and Pierce Snyder.
Trying to make it two Wildcat duos conquered, Stone and Underwood could not pull it off, as the Boleslavs won the first set 6-2 and then took the second set 6-4.
By winning the consolation bracket final, Judge and Lansing are joining Stone, Underwood and the Boleslav brothers, plus the singles trio of F-M’s Josh Druger, Manlius-Pebble Hill’s Andrew Mariados and Jamesville-DeWitt’s Robert Dotterer in traveling to the USTA-Billie Jean King National Tennis Center next weekend for a shot at state championship glory.
