It still wasn’t warm, or sunny, when the Liverpool and Cicero-North Syracuse boys tennis teams squared off in a match that turned out to be the 2016 season opener due to the weather postponements that preceded it.
Once they finally did take the court, the Warriors had the best of it, beating the Northstars 6-1, though the final margin did not reflect how close things got, especially in doubles, where Liverpool twice had to go to three sets to preserve a 4-0 sweep.
The Munski brothers paired up for the Warriors, fighting past Jack Irwin and Devon Seiter 6-2, 4-6, 6-4. In fourth doubles, Jeff Meyer and Alexsandar Dodzic also had to go to three sets, but also prevailed, 6-1, 2-6, 6-1 over Mitch Eager and Kavin Inthirakot.
It proved easier for Mike Fensken and Adam Donle, who won, 6-2, 6-1, over Matt McAndrew and Dan Harbaugh as Kenneth Kraft and Matt Renk paired up in third doubles to defeat John Barraco and Jake Tesfai 6-1, 6-1.
Up in singles, C-NS earned its lone point when Connor Millias routed Aleksandar Dzodic by those same 6-1, 6-1 scores. In yet another 6-1, 6-1 match, Liverpool’s Evan Maestri topped C-NS’s Rich Dennis, with Evan Vogue adding a 6-3, 7-5 victory over Justin Kegebein.
As a follow-up on Thursday afternoon, Liverpool defeated Henninger in another 6-1 decision, getting singles wins from Maestri and Vogue and sweeping all of the doubles matches, with Donle and Fensken needing to come from behind to win in three sets to preserve that 4-0 doubles mark.
C-NS, meanwhile, proceeded to a match Thursday against Baldwinsville, where it lost yet another 6-1 match. The Northstars prevented the shutout when Millias, in second singles, beat Sam Damato 6-4, 6-1. In the closest of the doubles matches, Eager and Inthirakot took a 7-5, 6-1 defeat to Kyle Robinson and Ryan Shirk.
On the court again Friday, C-NS got closer against Auburn, but fell to the Maroons 4-3. The Northstars got just one point in singles, thanks to Millias, who beat Trevor Bohannon 6-1, 6-4 as Kegebein went to a pair of tie-breakers, but fell to William Clark 7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (7-2).
Splitting the quartet of doubles matches, C-NS had Barraco and Tesfai go to three sets to beat Henry Foresman and Austin Duger 6-2, 4-6, 6-3, while Eager and Inthirakot handled Quinn Hukee and Dan Cosachov 6-2, 6-2. The teams of Harbaugh-McAndrew and Jack Irwin-Mason Gross both lost in two sets.
