A big early-season boys tennis showdown saw Cazenovia gain two singles points against powerful Jamesville-DeWitt, but not quite get all that it needed in a 3-2 defeat to the Red Rams.
The Lakers’ Nate Romig engaged in a first singles classic against J-D’s Robert Dotterer, overcoming a slow start to beat Dotterer 2-6, 6-2, 7-5. Meanwhile, Orson Sproule fought past Dan Frank 6-4, 6-4, though Mitch Romig fell to Peter Hatton 6-1, 6-1.
Needing a point in either of the doubles matches, Cazenovia could not attain it. Nick Barna and Liam Flannery fell to Somil Aggarwal and Ishan Gajra 6-2, 6-4, with Teddy Coughlin and Griffin Monahan swept by the brother tandem of Harshal and Druv Nanavati 6-1, 6-0.
Cazenovia came into that J-D match having won its season opener on April 5, a 5-0 shutout over Marcellus where Nate Romig, in first singles, beat Andrew Kammer 6-0, 6-1, with Mitch Romig handling Shawn Manke 6-0, 6-0 as Sproule got his own 6-0, 6-1 win over Justin Costa.
Barna, paired with Flannery, handled Noah LaFever and Dan Wrona, also in a 6-0, 6-0 manner, while Coughlin and Dan Gavilondo claimed a 6-2, 6-1 decision over Quinn Clarke and Tyler Guerrina.
While Cazenovia battled J-D, Chittenango had a close contest of its own to open 2017, and survived it, beating the Phoenix Firebirds 3-2 by getting both doubles points to offset dropping two of three singles matches.
In doubles, Keoni Saturnie and Zach Falkenburg roared to a 6-1, 6-0 win over Mason Lange and Joe Brennan, while Ben Cyr and Matt Lanphear also won in straight sets, topping Evan Baldini and Brandon Mironti 6-3, 6-2.
With Sean Austin beaten 7-5, 3-6, 6-1 in first singles by Ned Greenough and Devin Hodges falling to Josh VanGorder 6-0, 6-3, the Bears’ Aaron Norman had to win in singles, and not only did so, but shut out David Burgess 6-0, 6-0.
After the J-D defeat, Cazenovia had its own match with Phoenix Wednesday and won, 4-1, over the Firebirds. Nate Romig and Mitch Romig each won 6-0, 6-0 matches over, respectively, Greenough and Burgess, with Sproule beating VanGorder 6-1, 6-1.
A long three-set battle in third doubles saw Monahan and Dan Gavilondo take a 7-5, 3-6, 10-4 defeat to Brandon Mironti and Evan Baldini, but Flannery paired up with Coughlin, and they beat Mason Lange and Joe Brennan 6-0, 6-0.
Making it two wins in as many days, Chittenango blanked Bishop Grimes 5-0, with one singles match defaulted as Austin beat Zach Schell 6-3, 6-1 and Norman handling Alex McDonald 6-0, 6-0. The doubles teams of Saturnie-Falkenburg and Lanphear-Cyr did not lose a game between them.
That win streak halted Thursday with a 3-2 defeat to Manlius-Pebble Hill where the Bears got both points from doubles. Cyr and Lamphear prevailed, 6-4, 6-3, over Harry Chen and Keerthi Martyn, with Norman and Hodges prevailing in three sets.
Moving to the singles side, Austin fell, 6-3, 6-1, to Trilok Reddy, with Falkenburg taking a 6-0, 6-0 loss to Dan Braverman and Mike Ackerman falling to Charlie Mann 6-1, 6-1.
