Cazenovia’s boys tennis team would face major challenges in pursuit of division titles during this week’s Section III Class C-1 tournament at Syracuse University’s Skytop Courts, but participate in five of the finals and win two of them.
In second doubles, Ben Kmetz and Harry McDonough finished on top with two different comebacks in the late rounds. After blanking Dylan Gross and Dana Straw (Herkimer) 6-0, 6-0, Kmetz and McDonough, two points from defeat, overcame a terrible start to beat Manlius-Pebble Hill’s Cole Meier and Trilok Reddy 0-6, 7-5, 6-4 in the semifinals.
The final, against the Skaneateles team of Connor Jones and Anthony Panasci, saw Kmetz and McDonough again lose a lopsided first set, 6-2, and get pushed to a second-set tie-breaker before winning it, 7-6, and then taking the third set over Jones and Panasci 6-2 for first place.
Mason Stehle was victorious in third singles. After a 6-1, 6-2 sweep over Clinton’s Adam Blanks in the first round, Stehle defeated Connor Driscoll (Skaneateles) 6-4, 6-2, setting up a final against MPH’s Ini Oguntola. Again in straight sets, Stehle beat Oguntola 6-2, 3-6, 6-3.
Nate Romig, in the first singles division, easily won his first two matches, taking out Nick Boehm (Herkimer) 6-1, 6-0 and then shutting out Sauquoit Valley’s Chris Mazza 6-0, 6-0 in the semifinals, setting up a final against the top seed and defending sectional champion, Manlius-Pebble Hills’ Andrew Mariados, whom Romig pushed, but still couldn’t topple in a 6-2, 7-5 defeat.
As for Wyatt Lansing, who played in second singles, he beat Lennart Hoffman (Holland Patent) 6-4, 6-1 to reach the finals, only to run into another MPH star, Ryley Amond, who prevailed 6-0, 6-3.
Moving to first doubles, David Marshall and Andrew Terry beat Seth Laller and Andrew Lapp (Pulaski) 6-2, 6-1, and then won a 6-1, 4-6, 6-3 semifinal over Simon Burnham and Garnett Williams (Holland Patent) before MPH’s duo of Max Charlamb and Phillip Kim beat them 7-6, 6-1 in the finals.
Romig, along with the doubles team of Kmetz and McDonough, would make their way to the state qualifier late in the week to see if they could earn one of the three berths in this weekend’s state tournament at the USTA-Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Queens.
Chittenango was part of the sectional Class B tournament at Utica’s Mott Courts. In third singles, the Bears’ Aaron Norman beat Jason Ray (Mexico) 7-6, 6-2, but lost in the quarterfinals to Harri Ernits (New Hartford) 6-0, 6-4.
Moving to first doubles, Sean Austin and Ben Cyr fell in the first round to Nate Potter and Jas Singh (Homer) in a 6-4, 7-5 decision. Connor Martin and Keoni Saturnio played in second doubles, running into Steve Castellini and Tommy Daviau (CBA) and taking a 6-2, 6-4 defeat.
