In six consecutive victories to open the season, the Fayetteville-Manlius boys tennis team did not give up a single point.
All that changed this week — in fact, the Hornets came within a few games of seeing its 13-year, 183-match win streak come to an end.
Baldwinsville, undefeated and on its home court, provided the worthy opposition Tuesday afternoon in a two-hour classic that, at the last moment, F-M pulled out, edging past the Bees 4-3.
Both sides picked up early points in straight sets. Mike Mintskovsky, in third singels, beat Kevin Thompson 6-1, 6-3, while Wilbert Geng shut out Shaun Deviln 6-0, 6-0. Kunal Sangani and Scott Trobert topped Cody Buck and Kevin Pregent 6-3.
That gave F-M three points, but B’ville countered with one point in singles as Nick Westergaard lost to Matt Funicello 6-4, 6-4, and the doubles team of Danny and Jimmy Miron also lost in two sets.
When Eric Rosenthal and Divikar Lai squandered an early lead and fell to Grady Schmidt and Yaro Nieves 1-6, 6-4, 7-5, the whole match — and the streak — hung on fourth doubles, where Eric Rosenthal and Mike Kaplan faced the Bees’ tandem of Ben Weiss and Shawn Sullivan.
Rosenthal and Kaplan lost the opener 6-1, then took the second set 6-4. Both sides battled in the third set until the Hornets’ duo, two games from defeat, earned a service break – and won the match by a 7-5 margin.
A day earlier, F-M beat West Genesee 6-1. The Hornets not drop a set in singles play, as Westergaard beat Erik Breault 6-1, 6-1, while Geng defeated James Buttner 6-1, 6-0. Mintskovsky worked a bit longer, but still beat Tyler Arnold 6-4, 6-3.
The Hornets’ blemish came in doubles, where Lai and Ryan Holliday lost to Brett Smith and Lucas Hendrickson 6-2, 6-3. The Mirons also went to three sets, but still beat Eric Weller and Brad Shepard 6-3, 4-6, 6-4.
Also for F-M, Trobert and Sangani earned a 6-2, 6-1 win over Brett Smith and Lucas Hendrickson, while Tyler Kingsley and Andy Jacobs earned a 6-2, 6-4 win over Tanner McGuire and Shane Heyn.