Four local high school boys tennis players will end their season playing for state championships at the annual home of the United States Open.
CBA singles players Matt and Colin Nardella are joined by another brother tandem, East Syracuse-Minoa’s doubles team of Parker and Brandon Stone, who finished third in the Section III state qualifier, which ended Friday at Syracuse University’s SkyTop Courts.
No one could stop the Nardellas on their way to the singles final, as in the semifinal round Matt beat Fayetteville-Manlius’ Kenny Friedman 6-0, 6-0 and Colin worked a bit harder to beat Clinton’s Jacob Crawford 7-6, 6-3.
The final between siblings went to Matt Nardella 6-2, 6-3, and now he looks to improve upon his 2011 trip to the semifinals when the state tournament starts Thursday at the USTA-Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadow in Queens.
Colin Nardella is going, too, and while Friedman tried to join them, Crawford won the consolation match 6-0, 6-1 to advance to his second straight state tournament.
Meanwhile, Parker and Brandon Stone were one game from advancing to the state tournament in the qualifier semifinals, only to see its comeback fall just short against Skaneateles’ Ryan Sayko and Ethan Wilcox 6-4, 2-6, 7-6.
F-M’s tandem of Dan and James Miron lost the other semifinal, so now two sets of brothers squared off for the third and final state tournament slot. And the Stones got it, beating the Mirons in a pair of 6-4 sets.
On the way to yet another Section III Class A title, F-M won four of five divisions. Friedman and Wilbert Geng returned from their participation in the Science Olympiad national competition in Orlando, Fla., and both won. Friedman toppled Kevin Vo (Utica Proctor) 6-4, 6-2 in first singles, with Geng blanking Auburn’s Tom Alexander 6-0, 6-0 to finish on top in second singles.
Mike Mintskovsky completed the Hornets’ sweep in third singles when he beat Auburn’s Luke Petrosino 6-2, 6-2 in the finals. Meanwhile, in second doubles Brooks Nagle and Alex McCarthy won with a 6-3, 6-0 decision over West Genesee’s Erik Breault and Tyler Arnold.
It was nearly a local sweep as, in the Class A first doubles final, ESM’s Stone tandem led early, but lost to another brother duo, Brent and Garrett Boleslav (West Genesee), 5-7, 6-2, 6-2. The Boleslavs would go on to a second-place finish in the qualifier to advance to the state tournament.
Moving to the Class B sectional meet at Utica Parkway, Jamesville-DeWitt won the team title with 61 points to CBA’s 54, despite the Brothers winning all three singles divisions.
Matt and Colin Nardella both won their divisions, Matt beating J-D’s Robert Dotterer 6-0, 6-0. Alex Ojugbeli met the Red Rams’ Andrew Lee in the third singles final, Ojubgeli rolling to a 6-1, 6-2 win.
J-D retaliated in doubles, where in the first division Abe Davis and Steve Procopio beat Lee Cudney and Sam Concilla (Cazenovia) 7-6, 6-1, and the tandem of Amir Nazem and Jim Quartier also got to the finals before a 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 defeat to another Cazenovia tandem, Pat Marris and John Lyga.
Bishop Grimes, working in Class C, saw Nai Mayen and Dan Ostaszewski get to the finals before falling to Jay Davine and Benny Bauer (Cooperstown) 6-1, 6-2. Christian Freeman and Greg Ostaszewski, in the first doubles final, fell to Will Derouin and Isaac Herman (Cooperstown 6-0, 6-0.
When they moved to the state qualifier later that week, Matt and Colin Nardella clinched spots in the state tournament by advancing to the finals against each other – Matt by beating Friedman 6-0, 6-0, Colin by battling past Clinton’s Jacob Crawford 7-6, 6-3.
