As if securing the program’s first Section III championship since 1987 wasn’t exciting enough, the Cazenovia boys tennis team had plenty more to celebrate early last week, thanks to the play of Nate Romig.
With his run to the final of the sectional state qualifier, Romig assured that he would get to go to the USTA-Billie Jean King National Tennis Center at Flushing Meadow, Queens, which is the annual home of the United States Open, to take part in next weekend’s New York State Public High School Athletic Association tournament.
Romig was one of three singles players from Cazenovia part of the qualifying draw, joined by Fabian Grimm and Mason Stehle, and got rolling Tuesday at SUNY-Cortland with a 6-1, 6-0 romp over Fayetteville-Manlius’ Michael Miller in the first round. A 6-0, 6-0 shutout of Oswego’s Jacob Gerber followed in the quarterfinals.
‘Since the top three singles players advanced, all that Romig now needed was a semifinal win over Christian Brothers Academy’s Dean Vlassis. Again, it took just two sets as Romig handled Vlassis 6-3, 6-2.
All of the pressure was now off as Romig opposed F-M’s Taran Judge in Wednesday’s final at Syracuse University’s Skytop Courts. Even with a new venue and a strong opponent, Romig rolled to victory, winning the first set 6-2 and the second set 6-1. He never dropped more than three games in any set in the tournament.
While all this was going on, Grimm won an opening-round match over Alexandria Bay’s Kyle Gionet 6-4, 6-2, but lost in the round of 16 to Onondaga’s Ryan Cass 6-4, 6-2. Stehle had to deal with Auburn’s Scott Minnoe in his opening-round match and lost a 6-0, 6-2 decision.
In doubles play, Nick Barna and Orson Sproule could not make it out of the opening round, taking a 6-2, 6-2 defeat to the Christian Brothers Academy tandem of Tommy Daviau and Geoff Parkes, who lost in the next round to F-M’s James DeSorbo and Vince Sorrentino.
Ultimately, DeSorbo and Sorrentino finished third and advanced to the state tournament, where they’ll join Romig, Judge and Auburn’s Scott Minnoe (who beat Vlassis in the consolation final) on the singles side, plus two other doubles teams – Jamesville-DeWitt’s Robert Dotterer and Peter Hatton, and Cooperstown’s Tyler Bertram and Pierce Snyder.
