After winning three consecutive matches to open the season, the Baldwinsville boys tennis team suffered its first defeat on a windswept Thursday afternoon at West Genesee, falling to the Wildcats by a 4-3 margin.
All three of the Bees’ points were attained in straight-set matches. Dan Kot won a 6-4, 6-3 decision over Brent Boleslav, while Hunter Cohen-Ciampichini routed Herbie Jones 6-2, 6-0. In doubles, Grady Schmidt and Nick Walker had their own 6-2, 6-0 win over Justin Taylor and Billy Viau.
Where WG won it was in a pair of longer doubles matches. The Bees’ tandem of Matt Lawrence and Matt Rothenhoefer led early against Alex Fox and Connor Smith, only to lose that momentum in a 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 defeat. Chris Drain and Eric Johnson got within inches of a victory, only to see Connor McGuigan and Ian Swete rally to beat them 6-7, 6-3, 7-5.
A day earlier, the Bees took on the challenge from Syracuse East last Wednesday afternoon and emerged with a 6-1 victory.
The singles highlights included Walker roaring past Ran Rai 6-0, 6-1, and Cohen-Ciampichini topping Duc Duong 6-1, 6-0. Kot and Grady Schmidt led B’ville’s doubles effort with a 6-0, 6-0 shutout over Jhulendra Bhattarai and Shagar Subba. Jeff Stone was two games from a seventh point, only to fall just short as he lost to Dinesh Ghimirey 2-6, 6-4, 7-5.
B’ville had matches this week against Lansing, Oswego and Syracuse West, plus a stop at Liverpool Friday to compete in one division of the CNY Tennis Invitational.
