All season long, the West Genesee boys tennis team faced major challenges, but got through them with a solid record and are ready to take its shot at Section III Class A honors this Thursday at SUNY-Cortland.
To start things last week, the Wildcats faced Cicero-North Syracuse, a team it barely beat 4-3 on April 22, but this time it prevailed in two close matches and stretched out the winning margin over the Northstars to 6-1.
In singles, Chris Upwood was two games from defeat, but pulled out a 7-5, 2-6, 7-5 decision over Justin Kegebein. Moving to fourth doubles, Ryan Joyce and Brandon Hale came from behind and survived a third-set tie-breaker to prevail 3-6, 6-1, 7-6 (10-8) over Trey Nordin-Abbey and Mason Gross.
Ultimately, WG won all four doubles points. Pat Copeland and James Plunkett swept Nate Perrotta and Jack Irwin 6-2, 6-2, with John Northrop and Jimmy Harter beating John Barraco and Jake Tesfai 6-2, 6-0 as Nick Bentley and Stefan Atanasov had a 6-4, 6-1 win over Karin Inthirakot and Mitch Eager.
Back in the singles division, Alex Argiro struggled in a 6-2, 6-4 defeat to C-NS’s Connor Millias, but Connor McGuigan’s strong season continued as, in first singles, he defeated Rich Dennis 6-1, 6-4.
WG followed on Tuesday with a 7-0 shutout over East Syracuse Minoa in a non-league match. Bentley beat Bryant Pham 6-4, 6-3 as Argiro handled Kelvin Cheng 6-0, 6-1 and Upwood topped Ben Houseman 6-1, 6-1. None of the four doubles teams of McGuigan-Plunkett, Copeland-Atanasov, Ryan Joyce-Erik Shanahan and Drew Francisco-Ahmed Mahmoud lost more than one game in any single set they played.
Then, in Wednesday’s match against visiting Liverpool, WG won again, taking out the Warriors 5-2 mainly on the basis of a singles sweep. McGuigan worked past Evan Vogue 6-4, 6-4, while Argiro had a 7-5. 7-6 (7-3) win over Mike Fensken and Upwood handled Likhits Doddi 6-2, 6-4.
Copeland, paired with Atanasov, beat Jack Munski and Matt Renk 6-2, 6-4, with Northrop and Francisco getting past Munski and Ken Kraft 6-4, 6-2. Liverpool’s lone wins came from three-set battles as Plunkett and Harter lost, 6-7 (8-6), 6-3, 6-4, to Evan Maestri and Alex Donle, with Joyce and Hale falling to Alexsandar Dzodic and Nate Dombroski in a 6-4, 4-6, 10-7 decision.
Only on Thursday, when WG made up the rained-out May 6 match with Fayetteville-Manlius, did things slow down as the Wildcats again could not get a point from the undefeated Hornets in a 7-0 defeat.
Upwood, paired with Argiro, pushed F-M’s Richard Wang and Rohan Dhawan to a third set, but still lost, 6-3, 1-6, 6-1. McGuigan dropped his singles showdown with Taran Judge 6-1, 7-5, while Plunkett lost to Michael Miller 6-3, 6-1. Northrop and Hale fell to Dilan Judge and Joel Fafrella 6-0, 6-3.
Westhill claimed a 7-0 shutout over LaFayette last Tuesday afternoon, seeing Sabastian Ramirez and Dan Ferrara each win 6-0, 6-0 singles matches over, respectively, Noah Brothers and Brennon Thrall, while Jackson Bradley also won in singles.
Each of the four doubles matches was won by the Warriors in straight sets, too, including Mike Ferrara and Ryan Rolince getting their own 6-0, 6-0 shutout over Jack Grass and Devon Scott. The teams of Justin Ristoff-Evan Ballard and Gil-Nick Hartman prevailed, too, as did Chaddock and Connor Catone.
During Thursday’s 3-2 win over Onondaga, the Warriors again claimed both doubles points, with Ryan Rolince and Mike Ferrara topping Madison Shirtz and Corey Guyder 6-4, 6-1. In singles, Andrew Doner lost, 6-1, 6-0 to Dan Kelly, and Ramirez took a 6-1, 4-6, 6-4 defeat to Ryan Cass, but Bradley got past Lauren Aguirre 6-1, 6-0.
