Even with a 7-1 record, the Skaneateles boys tennis team found out that it could not quite climb to the top of the OHSL Liberty division because Christian Brothers Academy stood in the way.
Those two sides went head-to-head last Monday at Austin Park, and though the Lakers claimed both of the doubles match, it could not offset the Brothers’ strength in singles play, which led to a 3-2 defeat.
In second doubles, Jack Lawson and Anthony Panasci put Skaneateles on the board with a 6-4, 6-3 victory over David Hoag and Andre Oguntola. Then Ryan Bailey and Matt Benson went to three sets against Tom Daviau and Zach Popp, but won 6-3, 4-6, 6-1.
Up in singles, though, CBA’s brother tandem of Dean and Ben Vlassis contained the Lakers, Dean beating Joe Ausio 6-2, 6-0 and Ben handling Connor Driscoll 6-0, 6-0. Though Dan Judge did claim a few games from the Brothers’ Milan Gupta, he still lost 6-3, 6-1.
Two days later, taking on Westhill, the Lakers bounced back, beating the Warriors 4-1, though the singles matches proved quite stressful. Driscoll led early, but fell to Jackson Bradley 2-6, 6-3, 10-4 as Judge needed three sets to get past Ryan Rolince 6-2, 1-6, 6-3.
Ausio had the easiest singles match, handling Andrew Doner 6-1, 6-3. Mixing up doubles pairings, the Lakers had Benson and Lawson top Colin Catone and Tom Chaddock 6-2, 6-2, with Bailey and Malcolm Lombardi teaming up to beat Dan Ferrara and Conor Mahoney 6-4, 6-1.
This led to a rematch with CBA on Thursday afternoon, this time on the Brothers’ home courts, and though again Skaneateles was tough, again it had to take a 3-2 defeat.
Both points came in doubles, where Benson and Lombardi teamed up for a 6-4, 7-6 (7-5) victory over Daviau and Popp, while Bailey and Jack Panasci had an easier time of it, defeating David Hoag and Shivam Nanavati 6-2, 6-2.
Jack Belinski took a turn in singles and lost, 6-3, 6-1, to Gupta, while Ausio could not get a game from Dean Vlassis in a 6-0, 6-0 defeat and Judge, playing first singles, lost, 6-0, 6-1, to Ben Vlassis.
