With those new lights, the West Genesee and Fayetteville-Manlius boys tennis teams played into the night last Tuesday, enjoying a full array of challenging matches.
This made a battle of undefeated teams feel even more special. And though the Wildcats could not break the Hornets’ 144-match win streak, the 6-1 decision reflected just how much WG’s program has grown.
Most teams drop quickly in F-M’s sight. The Wildcats did not do so, snatching a point and nearly grabbed another in terrific three-set battles.
Jeff Kurtz and Tim Gallivan got together to earn WG’s point. They played through two long tie-breakers with Shay Chen and Andrew Thomas before emerging with a 6-3, 6-7 (7-4), 7-6 (7-2) victory.
Up in singles, Craig Shepard took the first set from F-M’s Mike Muraco, only to have Muraco take over in the late stages of a 6-7 (7-4), 6-2, 6-0 decision. WG sacrificed the other points in singles, as Andrew Tunguz and Aaron Speach took just one total game from Greg Kreitzer and Matt Izant.
In the other doubles matches, Kunal Shetty and Jon Papazides teamed up, taking a 6-3, 7-6 (7-3) loss to Erik Calancie and Jan Winkler. Matt Zell and Eric Tressler fell to Vikram and Vivek Nayar 6-4, 7-6 (7-2), with Mike Spicer and Josh Barrett beaten by Jeremy Nash and John Chick 6-4, 6-1.
The warm-up for F-M came last Monday, when the Wildcats earned its 11th straight victory by blanking Utica Proctor 7-0.
Shetty, Papazides and Kurtz did drop more than two games in any set they played.
Tressler and Zell got through a 6-3, 7-6 victory over Rocco Carzo and Adam Sroczyk, while the teams of Spicer-Tim Gallivan, Tunguz-Speech and Aaron Keohane-Shepard all won in straight sets, too.
Right after that match with the Hornets, the Wildcats resumed its winning ways, blanking Cicero-North Syracuse 7-0.
Gallivan and Shepard won by equal 6-2, 6-2 margins over, respectively, Mark Angeli and Jordan Smith, while Papazides beat Greg Jarvis 6-2, 6-3.
WG was also dominant in doubles, as the teams of Shetty-Tressler, Zell-Kurtz, Speach-Keohane and Spicer-Tunguz all won without dropping a set.
All of the Wildcats’ top players will be present next week at the Section III Class A tournament, played May 21 and 22 at Syracuse University’s SkyTop Courts.
