Both the Cazenovia and Chittenango boys tennis team’s top players made their way to Utica’s Mott Courts to take part in last week’s Section III Class B championship tournament – and it was Nate Romig making the biggest statement of all.
Romig led the Lakers by winning the first singles championship. The tournament started last Monday, where Romig beat Jamesville-DeWitt’s Alex Tso 6-1, 6-0 in the quarterfinals and then shut out Cortland’s Kristian Reynolds 6-0, 6-0 to reach the finals Tuesday against New Hartford’s Vishnu Kakuturi.
Here, Romig faced his toughest match, but once he got through a 6-4 first set, things got easier, and he beat Kakuturi 6-2 in the second set to earn his sectional title – not to mention a place in the Section III state qualifier later in the week.
An opening-round match in first doubles pitted the Bears’ Conor Delaney and Connor Martin against the Lakers’ Ben Kmetz and Harry McDonough, and Delaney and Martin won, 6-2, 6-2, only to lose in the quarterfinals to CBA’s Dan Mantooth and Barnes Werner 6-2, 6-1.
In third singles, the Lakers’ Wyatt Lansing, with a bye to the quarterfinals, beat Westhill’s Jordan Files 6-4, 6-1, only to fall in the semifinals to CBA’s Dean Vlassis 6-0, 6-0. Chittenango’s Kyle Brazell lost in the opening round to J-D’s Ishan Gajra by those same 6-0, 6-0 scores.
Cazenovia had one doubles team in the field as Galen Okoniewski and Mason Stehle won their opening-round match over Joe Domicolo and Ben Pelow (Mexico) 6-1, 6-3, before J-D’s Jake Cline and Josh Frank eliminated them in the quarterfinals 6-3, 6-2.
Moving to second singles, the Bears’ Petr Byrtus, in three sets, lost his opening-round match to J-D’s Josh DeHoog 6-2, 3-6, 7-5.
In the team standings, Cazenovia, with 26 points, finished fifth, with J-D (47 points) edging New Hartford (44 points) for first place, plus Oneida in third place and CBA in fourth place.
