The Christian Brothers Academy boys tennis team had one of its toughest matches of the season last Tuesday afternoon, against Skaneateles, but was able to dominate singles play and pull out a 3-2 victory over the Lakers.
Dean Vlassis rolled past Connor Jones 6-0, 6-1, with Jameson Keppeler topping Ethan Weldon 6-1, 6-1 and Ben Vlassis getting a 6-0, 6-0 shutout over Max Hall. Meanwhile, the Brothers stumbled in doubles, where Tommy Daviau and Geoff Parkes lost, 6-1, 6-3, to Ryan Bailey and Matt Benson, while Milan Gupta and Shivam Navaroti had a 7-5, 6-2 defeat to Malcolm Lombardi and Anthony Panasci.
CBA had yet another 3-2 win over Cazenovia on Wednesday, where Keppeler and Ben Vlassis each had 6-0, 6-3 victories over, respectively, Brady Flannery and Tim Kempton, and Dean Vlassis pushed Nate Romig to three sets, but lost a 6-1, 7-6 (7-5), 6-1 decision.
Needing just a split in doubles, the Brothers earned it when Gupta and Navaroli fought past Nick Bama and Orson Sproule 7-6 (7-5), 7-5, which made up for Daviau and Parkes taking a 6-0, 3-6, 6-3 defeat to Fabian Grimm and Mason Stehle.
East Syracuse Minoa dropped a tough 4-3 decision to Phoenix last Monday, the whole match coming down to a third-set tie-breaker in first singles, where the Spartans’ John Pontillo could not quite complete his comeback, taking a 6-1, 4-6, 7-6 (7-3)defeat to Zack VanGorder.
Otherwise, the Spartans lost all of the singles matches in two sets as Ben Houseman, John Kipping and David Demazure took those defeats, but it flourished in doubles, where Bryant Pham and Kelvin Cheng beat Evan Baldini and Josh VanGorder 7-6 (6-2, 6-1). Also, Nam Nguyen and Anson Cheng beat Mason Lange and Josh Smith 6-2, 6-0, while Jack Callahan and Caleb Wilknsen won, 6-2, 6-2, over CodyLawson and Joe Brennan.
A 7-0 defeat to West Genesee followed on Tuedsay, with Pham engaged in the closest singles match, a 6-3, 6-4 defeat to Nick Bentley. Cheng lost to Alex Argiro 6-0, 6-1, with Houseman falling to Chris Upwood 6-1, 6-1 and none of the doubles teams earning more than one game in any single set they played against the Wildcats.
In yet another match on Wednesday, ESM lost to Cortland 7-0, with Pham nearly breaking out in singles, but losing to Vadin Salashnyy 7-5, 6-4. None of the other Spartans won more than two games in any set they played against the Purple Tigers, and Thursday’s 7-0 defeat to Mexico followed the same pattern, Wilkensen and Cheng in the closest match, a 6-3, 6-2 loss to Paul Winterfield and Zach Lawler.
Bishop Grimes took a 5-0 defeat to LaFayette last Monday and, a day later, Manlius-Pebble Hill had its turn on the court, falling to Cazenovia 4-1. Keerthyi Martin earned the lone point with a 6-0, 1-6, 6-4 win over the Lakers’ Liam Flannery, while Charlie Mann lost, 7-5, 7-6 (7-5), to Mason Stehle. Cazenovia won the other matches in straight sets.
In Wednesday’s 4-1 defeat to the same Skaneateles side CBA beat earlier in the week, Trilok Reddy dominated Luca Kunz 6-0, 6-0, but Martyn and Mann lost their singles matches in straight sets, with the doubles matches also ending in straight-set Lakers triumphs.
MPH lost on Friday to Pulaski in yet another 4-1 decision where Reddy beat Matt Foederer 6-2, 6-3, but Mann fell to Sarunyoo Thiemsri 6-2, 6-2 and Martyn had a 6-1, 6-2 defeat to Ed Sheats.
