When the Section III boys tennis tournaments took place late last week, Christian Brothers Academy and Jamesville-DeWitt would run into each other several times in the Class B tournament at Utica’s Mott Courts.
And when all was settled, it was the Brothers prevailing in all three singles divisions and eventually edging the Red Rams, who won both of the doubles divisions, for the team championship.
Dean Vlassis gave CBA a chance at the first singles title when he won his semifinal over J-D’s Tyler Glowaki 7-5, 6-2. The final pitted Vlassis against New Hartford’s John Robert Corasanti, and after a tough first set, Vlassis went on to conquer Corasanti 7-5, 6-2.
In third singles, CBA’s Ben Vlassis and J-D’s Tyler Lux would square off for the title. Vlassis got by Oneida’s Ajay Hicks 6-0, 6-3in the semifinals) as Lux beat John Ocker (Mexico) 6-2, 6-3 in the other semifinal.
It didn’t take long, though, for Ben Vlassis to establish complete control of the final, shutting out Lux 6-0 in the first set before closing it out, 6-3, in the second set.
The second singles final pitted CBA’s Jameson Keppeler against Mexico’s Ethan Bartosek, who had topped J-D’s David Benaroch in a 7-5, 7-5 semifinal after Benaroch had survived Oneida’s Kevin Spooner 4-6, 6-4, 6-1 in the previous round. Keppeler defeated Benaroch, and the Brothers had all three singles titles.
Moving to first doubles, J-D’s Robert Dotterer and Peter Hatton made it to the title match against Oneida’s duo of Aidan Hicks and Spencer Rich, who had beaten CBA’s Geoff Parkes and Tommy Daviau 6-2, 3-6, 6-1 in one semifinal as Dotterer and Hatton beat Seth Brewster and Jayson Decker (Vernon-Verona-Sherrill) 6-0, 6-0 in the other semifinal.
Having seen CBA own the singles division, Dotterer and Hatton weren’t about to let J-D get shut out. Taking little time, they routed Hicks and Rich 6-1, 6-1 for the first doubles title.
J-D would also win the second doubles division thanks to Ishan Gajra and Alex Tso, who routed Westhill’s Mike Ferrara and Ryan Rolince 6-0, 6-1 in the semifinals.
Then, against Mexico’s Zach Lawler and Paul Winterfeld in the title match, Gajra and Tso nearly matched Dotterer and Hatton, winning a 6-2, 6-1 decision over the Tigers team that had taken out CBA’s Gupta brothers 6-4, 6-2 in the semifinals.
Manlius-Pebble Hill competed in the sectional Class C-1 tournament, where its best finish came in second doubles.
Jeff Bush and Tommy Zhao nearly didn’t make it out of the first round, rallying past Brandon George and Isaac Schultz (Sauquoit Valley) 5-7, 6-2, 6-3 before another marathon in the quarterfinals that required a third-set tie-breaker before Bush and Zhao beat Lowville’s Joost Kuhne and Caleb Van Buren 6-7, 6-2, 7-6.
Only in the semifinals did Bush and Zhao’s run as they wore down in a 6-1, 6-0 defeat to Skaneateles’ Ryan Baily and Malcolm Lombardi, who had a first-round bye and were far more rested.
The Trojans’ first doubles team of Nick Jerge-Max Ward lost in the quarterfinals to Connor Frank and Andrew Racioppa (Clinton) 6-4, 7-5. In singles, Keerthi Martyn lost to Mason Stehle (Cazenovia) 6-3, 6-1, with Charlie Mann falling to Connor Driscoll (Skaneateles) 6-1, 6-2 and Trilok Reddy falling to Clinton’s Andrei Gherasiou in three sets, taking the opener 6-2, but dropping the next two sets 6-4 and 6-2.
As a post-season tune-up, J-D took on 12-1, Tri-Valley League champion New Hartford last Monday afternoon and did not get a shutout – but that’s about all that went wrong during a 6-1 victory over the Spartans.
Of the four singles matches, Alex Tso had the toughest battle, having to rally for a 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 win over Ethan Lampert. Glowaki lost, 6-4, 6-1, to Corasanti, but Ishan Gajra routed Charles Klemplay 6-1, 6-1 and Ethan DellaPosta shut out Ricki Falvo 6-0, 6-0.
Moving to doubles, Peter Hatton and Robert Dotterer got a 6-4, 6-1 win over Doug Hotvedt and Oscar Klempay. Lux and Benaroch paired up to beat Kamran Shaikh and Nate Moretz 6-2, 6-2, with Somil Aggarwal and Harshal Nanavati taking a 6-0, 6-1 romp over Austin Franklin and Mat Cioni.
