Boys tennis players from Cicero-North Syracuse and Liverpool would make their way to the courts at SUNY-Cortland late last week, vying for top honors in five divisions during the Section III Class A tournament.
Connor Millias made a big run in second singles for the Northstars. Millias topped Alex Shaban (Baldwinsville) 6-3, 6-0 and then, in the semifinals, got past Oswego’s Patrick Dowdle 6-4, 6-3 to set up a final against Fayetteville-Manlius star Michael Miller.
Having lost the first set 6-2, Millias played better in the second set, pushing it to a tie-breaker – but Miller still won it, 7-6, leaving Millias in second place, but still headed for this week’s state qualifier.
C-NS’s Justin Kegebein was part of the third singles bracket, beating Auburn’s William Clark 6-0, 6-3 in the opening round and recording a 6-2, 7-5 quarterfinal win over Oswego’s Hunter Mazuroski. Then, in the semifinals, Kegebein won the first set from Watertonw’s Aiden King 6-3, only to drop the next two sets by equal 6-4 margins.
Up in first singles, Rich Dennis made it past the quarterfinals, getting within one game of a straight-set defeat before, rallying to defeat Utica Proctor’s Bryan Fam 2-6, 7-6, 6-1. Dennis lost, 6-0, 6-0, to the top seed, F-M’s Taran Judge, in the semifinals.
Liverpool’s best showing came in first doubles, where Evan Vogue and Evan Maestri won their quarterfinal over Rich Llanos and Samir Subba (Syracuse East) 6-0, 6-1, but could not quite catch West Genesee’s Connor McGuigan and James Plunkett in a 6-2, 7-6 semifinal defeat.
In second doubles, Liverpool’s brother duo of Caleb and Jake Munski won in the first round 6-3, 6-1 over Nick Holland Nick Hurlbutt (Oswego), only to take a 6-3, 6-4 defeat to West Genesee’s Stefan Atanasov and Pat Copeland in the quarterfinals.
That’s where the C-NS team of Mitch Eager and Karin Inthirakot stopped, too, having beaten Robert Collier and Nick Lozaponi (Syracuse East) 6-2, 6-2 in the first round before B’ville’s Scott Ferrari and Mason Soeder beat them 6-0, 6-2.
