Only an outbreak of bad weather kept the Fayetteville-Manlius boys tennis team from extending its long win streak in the waning days of April.
Once May hit, though, it was time to work again. And no work proved harder than a match against Christian Brothers Academy where the Hornets needed a point in doubles to beat the Brothers 4-3 and extend the streak to 207 straight matches.
CBA put its singles stars – Matt Nardella, Colin Nardella and Alex Ojugbeli – into three different doubles matches. Every time, it led to victories.
Matt Nardella teamed with Barnes Werner to beat Dan and James Miron 6-3, 6-3. Colin Nardella worked with Drew Darrenbacker to get a 6-4, 6-4 win over Alex McCarthy and Brooks Nagle, while Ojugbeli joined Greg Maziuk, the pair beating Kunal Sangani and Scott Trobert 6-3, 7-5.
This left one other doubles match. F-M got the clinching point when Ryan Izant and Chris Lansing battled their way past Jack Alexander and Dan Mantooth 6-3, 7-5.
The Hornets benefited, too, from seeing CBA’s singles stars in doubles. Wilbert Geng, Mike Mintskovsky and Josh Druger did not lose a game in any of their matches, each of them winning 6-0, 6-0 over, respectively, Alexei Lopoo, Ryan Croucher and Frank Barletta.
F-M’s 206th consecutive win also had meaning, as on Thursday it knocked off previously unbeaten West Genesee 6-1.
It commenced with Geng blanking Sam Farchione 6-0, 6-0 in second singles. Kenny Friedman handled Billy Viau 6-2, 6-1, while Mintskovsky had a 6-1, 6-0 rout over Anthony Stracqualursi.
In doubles, it proved tougher. McCarthy and Nick Guarino got past Alex Fox and Connor Smith 6-3, 6-3, but Dan and James Miron lost in straight sets to Brent and Garrett Boleslav 6-2, 6-0, and the other matches went to three sets.
Each time, F-M would stage a comeback. Druger and Chris Lansing were down a set and faced a second-set tie-breaker, but rallied past Erik Breault and Tanner McGuire 3-6, 7-6 (7-3), 6-3. Though not in that much danger, Sangani and Trobert had to make their own rally to get a 3-6, 6-4, 6-2 win over Tyler Arnold and Shane Heyn.
When play resumed last Monday, so did the streak as the Hornets ripped Oswego 7-0. Friedman and Geng won their singles matches, as Friedman handled Austin Demott 6-1, 6-1 and Geng blanked Ryan Patrick 6-0, 6-0.
Between them, the doubles teams of Dan Miron-James Miron, McCarthy-Brooks Nagle, Ivan Ma-Abhi Sishtila and Ryan Izant-Elliott Tan lost just six games in eight sets of doubles play.
Jamesville-DeWitt beat neighbor and rival East Syracuse-Minoa 6-1, preserving a singles sweep when Robert Dotterer beat Tyler Underwood 6-2, 6-7, 6-1. Erik Davis got past Esef Hamzic 6-1, 6-1, Nick Bono beat John Drago by those same scores, and Dan Della Posta handled Musthak Mozeb in straight sets 6-2, 6-2.
The Spartans’ point came in doubles, where Brandon and Parker Stone combined for a 6-3, 6-4 win over Abe Davis and Steve Procopio. Elsewhere, J-D’s tandems of Amir Nazem-Allen Zhou and Alex Katsarsky-Rahul Raina won in two sets.
ESM turned around to beat Chittenango 4-3 on Wednesday afternoon. Underwood and Tyler Rosso both won in singles, with Stone teaming with Adam Cesarini to beat Josh Carpenter and Connor Delaney 6-1, 6-1. Brandon Stone and Mushtak Mozeb handled Adam Moon and Greg Rohrer 6-0, 6-2.
On Friday, J-D swept Fulton 7-0 and stayed unbeaten. Davis rallied in singles past Eric Naiotti 3-6, 6-1, 6-4, while Dotterer topped Mitchell Lalik 6-4, 6-4. Lee had a 6-1, 6-1 rout of Nate Deavers as all the doubles matches were won in straight sets, too.
CBA began its week by blanking Marcellus 5-0, the singles trio of Matt Nardella, Colin Nardella and Ojugbeli not dropping a single game in their matches. Alexander and Mantooth worked in doubles to beat Sean Dunn and Dan Martin 6-2, 6-4, while Darrenbacker and Barnes Werner topped Shane Barner and Andrew Herold 6-2, 6-0.
The Brothers then beat Westhill 4-1 on Wednesday afternoon in single-set matches that went to 10 games. The singles shutout streak continued, but Alexander and Mantooth had to work a bit longer to beat Sean DeKay and Brian McMullen 10-5. CBA also rolled past Jordan-Elbridge 5-0 on Thursday afternoon.
Manlius-Pebble Hill swept past Onondaga 5-0, fueled by 6-0, 6-0 singles wins by Justin Oh over Peggy Tiss and Tyler Greco over Hannah Melle, Jon Koss beat Ryan Cass 6-1, 6-4 as the doubles teams of Tristan Amond-Ben Parks and Alex French-Lawyer and Chris Lane prevailed, too.
Bishop Grimes returned last Tuesday and handled LaFayette 5-0. Oscar Hong, with a 6-1, 6-1 win over Kyle Robinson, led a singles sweep as Matt Miller beat Ivan Schneible 6-1, 6-0 as Joao Lima blanked Tom Kotapka 6-0, 6-0. The doubles teams of Christian Freeman-Greg Ostaszewski and Nai Mayen-Dan Ostaszewski also won in two sets. Grimes made it back-to-back wins on Wednesday, blanking Pulaski 5-0.
