Having finished a 25th consecutive undefeated regular season, the Fayetteville-Manlius boys tennis team moved on to action in last week’s Section III Class A tournament, held at SUNY-Cortland.
But the Hornets could not hold on to its sectional crown, earning 58 points and finishing second to West Genesee, who claimed the team title with 61 points by sweeping all three singles divisions.
It turned into a local duel in first doubles, when the Hornets’ Dan Miron and Nick Westergaard met East Syracuse-Minoa’s top pair of Brandon Stone and Tyler Underwood. The F-M duo proved too much, though, beating Stone and Underwood 6-3, 6-3.
Second doubles belonged to the Hornets’ duo of Mike Mintskovsky and Brooks Nagle, who dropped just two games in their first two matches, including a 6-0, 6-0 sweep of Mike Fensken and Evan Vogue (Liverpool) in the semifinals, before stopping Baldwinsville’s Eric Johnson and Devin Murphy 6-0, 6-2 in the championship match.
Josh Druger, with wins over Baldwinsville’s Josh Dukat (6-0, 6-0) and Utica Proctor’s Kevin Vo (6-0, 6-0), made his way to the final against West Genesee’s Brent Boleslav, but could not get his footing in a 6-1, 6-3 defeat.
Riley Ma, having beaten Utica Proctor’s Bryan Fam 6-0, 6-0 in his first match in second singles, had to wait a day before topping Cicero-North Syracuse’s Brian Emigolz 6-0, 6-1 in the semifinals. But Ma ran right into Brent Boleslav’s brother, Garrett, in the finals and lost by scores of 6-0 and 6-3.
Thomas Wong lost in the third singles quarterfinals to Baldwinsville’s Scott Ferrari 6-3, 7-5. ESM’s duo of Connor Bayly and Jeff Episcopo lost in the opening round in first doubles.
Jamesville-DeWitt, on the other hand, did hold on to the sectional Class B title, earning 47 points to edge past New Hartford (44) as CBA finished fourth with 31 points.
In third singles, the Red Rams’ Isham Gajra and the Brothers’ Dean Vlassis would go head-to-head in the finals, with Vlassis prevailing in straight sets 6-3, 6-1, but J-D made up for it with strong finishes elsewhere.
Jake Cline and Josh Frank won in first doubles, claiming the first two matches in straight sets, but then rallying to beat Oneida’s David Mondrick and Zach Wartella 4-6, 6-1, 6-1 in the finals for crucial points.
In second doubles, another J-D duo, Robert Dotterer and Rahul Raina, faced Oneida’s Jeff Coulter and David Kann, who had beaten CBA’s Dan Mantooth and Barnes Werner 7-5, 6-2 in the other semifinal. Dotterer and Raina won, 7-5, 7-5, with Mantooth and Werner beating New Hartford’s Ross Padula and Sean Saltzberger 6-4, 6-1.
CBA’s Greg Maziuk lost in the second singles semifinals to Deepak John (New Hartford) 6-0, 6-1 and finished fourth, while J-D’s Josh DeHoog survived the first round with Petr Byrtus (Chittenango) 6-2, 3-6, 7-5, but lost in the quarterfinals to Homer’s Drew Potter 7-5, 6-1. J-D’s Alex Tso, in first singles, lost in the quarterfinals to Cazenovia’s Nate Romig 6-1, 6-0.
Manlius-Pebble Hill took part in the Class C-1 tournament at Syracuse University’s Skytop Courts, where in first singles Andrew Mariados proved dominant, handling Lowville’s Colin Farquhar 6-0, 6-1 and Little Falls’ Kyle Barnes 6-0, 6-0 to easily claim the championship.
Ryley Amond prevailed in second singles for the Trojans, beating Ryan Burton (Sauquoit Valley) 6-1, 6-1 in the semifinals and Collin Stewart (Lowville) 6-0, 6-1 in the finals. In third singles, Ini Oguntola reached the semifinals before falling to Connor Driscoll (Skaneateles) 6-3, 6-1.
Trilok Reddy and Morgan Smith rolled through the early rounds in second doubles, routing Keith Marble and Tyler Schloop (Sauquoit Valley) 6-0, 6-0 in the semifinals, only to take a 6-4, 6-4 defeat to Anthony Pansaci and Ryan Bailey (Skaneateles) I n the finals.
Bishop Grimes, in the Class C-2 tournament at Utica Mott Courts, saw Dan Ostaszewski prevail in second singles, advancing to the finals when he beat Hamilton’s Skyler Fukazawa 7-6, 6-3, and then beat Alexandria Bay’s Parker Garlock 7-5, 6-2 to finish on top.
Matt Miller, in a similar position, beat another Hamilton player, Nicklas Stefansen, 6-1, 6-2 in the semifinals of first singles, and then routed Cooperstown’s Jason Cadwalder 6-0, 6-1 in the finals.
Knox Wolaver fell to Michael Hershey (Hamilton) 6-4, 7-5 in the opening round, while the second doubles team of William Hahn and Mario Perez fell to Carter Deeney and Luis Janer (Watertown IHC) 6-2, 6-3 in its first match. In first doubles, Raju McMonagle and Harrison Pelletier lost in the quarterfinals to Colton Mennig and Emily Widger (Morrisville-Eaton) 6-3, 6-2.
