Even with beautiful weather for most of last week, the Cazenovia boys tennis team stayed on the sideline, itching to get competitive again.
And when the Lakers’ nine-day break ended, it didn’t find it too difficult, not dropping a set in any of its five matches last Thursday in a 5-0 shutout over Bishop Grimes that proved a tune-up for Monday’s showdown with unbeaten Jamesville-DeWitt.
Nate Romig got Cazenovia (4-1) going in first singles, blanking Matt Miller 6-0, 6-0. Mason Stehle took a bit longer, but beat Knox Wolaver 6-2, 6-1, with Wyatt Lansing earning a 6-2, 6-4 decision over Dan Ostaszewski.
Against the Cobras on the doubles side, it was much the same. Using the same scores as Lansing, Cazenovia’s team of Tim Kempton and David Marshall won, 6-2, 6-4, over Noah Fiacchi and Raju McMonagle, with Ben Kmetz and Harry McDonough completing the sweep by getting a 6-0, 6-0 shutout over William Hahn and Mario Perez.
Cazenovia played again on Friday, against Skaneateles, and claimed this Laker duel by a 4-1 margin with a singles sweep. Romig romped past Ethan Weldon 6-0, 6-0, with Lansing handling Max Hall 6-3, 6-1 and Stehle rolling past Connor Driscoll 6-1, 6-1.
Then, in a three-set doubles battle, Marshall and Andrew Terry rallied to beat Ryan Bayly and Malcolm Lombardi 1-6, 6-4, 6-3. Kmetz and McDonough lost, 7-6 (7-3), 7-6 (7-3), to Connor Jones and Anthony Panasci.
Back on Monday, Chittenango could not gain a point from Cortland in a 7-0 defeat, though all three doubles matches went to three sets.
Connor Martin and Keoni Saturnio were one game from victory, but couldn’t hold it in a 4-6, 7-6 (7-5), 6-3 loss to Ben Condit and Garrett Reagan. Sean Austin and Ben Cyr also led early, and also lost to Jon Homer and Vadim Salshnyy 2-6, 6-4, 6-3, and in third doubles Zach Falkenburg and Colton Stelakis dominated at the start, yet still lost to Damian Brown and Cobi O’Connell 1-6, 6-4, 10-3.
In third singles, the Bears’ Mike Ackerman took Braden Jones to three sets before falling 6-2, 3-6, 6-2. Aaron Norman lost to Andriy Lozhko 6-2, 6-4, with Oliver Gottsleben falling to Brian Ordway 6-3, 6-1 and Kyle Brazell running into Cooper Swartout in a 6-1, 6-1 loss.
Just 24 hours later, the Bears defeated East Syracuse Minoa 5-2, sweeping all four doubles points and also seeing Brazell prevail in singles, topping Bryant Pham using the same 6-1, 6-1 margin that had worked against him the day before.
Three of those doubles matches against the Spartans were contested, as Falkenburg and Stelakis beat Alan Ayoub and Kelvin Chang 6-1, 7-5, with Martin and Saturino beating Brett Dufore and Tristen McNeil 6-0, 6-0 and Austin and Cyr rolling past Anson Cheng and A.J. Laury 6-4, 6-1.
But Chittenango was not able to snare a point from OHSL Freedom division leader Jamesville-DeWitt in a 7-0 defeat to the Red Rams.
In the four singles matches, Martin, Austin and Saturnio won just four games in six sets against, respectively, Robert Dotterer, David Benaroch and Josh Rothenberg, while Stelakis, taking a turn in singles, had a 6-4, 6-2 defeat to Tyler Lux.
On the doubles side, Brazell and Gottlesben lost, 6-0, 6-0, to Jake Cline and Josh Frank, with Milan Ackerman and Aaron Norman falling to Ishan Gajra and Alex Tso 6-2, 6-0. Cyr and Falkenburg had a 6-1, 6-3 defeat to Somil Aggarwal and Harshal Nanavati.
Chittenango did earn points in Thursday’s 5-2 defeat to Fulton, with Martin beating Ben McKay 6-4, 6-3 in singles, while in doubles Falkenburg and Stelakis took a 7-5, 6-4 decision over Tom Distin and Bayley Raponi. But the Red Raiders won every other match in straight sets as Norman, Gottsleben and Chase Gordon fell in the singles division.
