For its first match of the 2018 season, the Cazenovia boys tennis team did not have to look too far to find its opponent – or wait too long to get a satisfactory result.
The Lakers faced off with Chittenango last Wednesday afternoon and, before the rains returned, Cazenovia put together a strong effort, especially in singles, to defeat the Bears 4-1.
Nate Romig got it going in singles, blanking Sean Austin 6-0, 6-0. Mitch Romig contributed a 6-0, 6-2 victory over Ben Cyr, with Liam Flannery defeating Evan Edwards by those exact same scores.
Chittenango’s lone point came in doubles, where Zach Falkenburg and Matt Lanphear survived a first-set tie-breaker, toppling Dan Gavilondo and Teddy Coughlin 7-6 (7-2), 6-1. But the Lakers had Griffin Monahan and Jake Walburger get past Griffen and Nate Smith by scores of 7-5 and 6-0.
Cazenovia tried to follow up this success by prevailing Friday against Skaneateles, but the decision went 3-2 in the favor of those other Lakers.
In first singles, Mitch Romig handled Duncan Raddant 6-3, 6-1, but Skaneateles earned the other points as Flannery fell to Dan Judge 6-1, 6-1 and Dan Kempinski had a 6-4, 6-1 defeat to Jack Belinski.
A point in doubles came when Gavilondo and Coughlin swept past Chris Burgher and Jack Panaschi 6-2, 6-3. Skaneateles gained the other point when Andrew Neumann and Nate Fouts topped Aiden Kalteski and Adrian Castro 6-1, 6-3.
Earlier in the week, Chittenango took on Homer and dropped a tight 3-2 battle with the Trojans.
Up in singles play, Austin earned a point for the Bears with a 6-2, 7-5 victory over Ben Herman. Cyr ran into Vince Saraceno and took a 6-2, 6-3 defeat as Edwards lost, 6-0, 6-1, to Alex Cottrell.
Moving to doubles, Falkenburg and Lanphear needed three sets to get past Nate Potter and Spencer Rusyniak 6-2, 3-6, 6-4. The Smith duo lost to Adam Brown and Sean Powers 6-2, 6-1.
If the weather held up, Cazenovia would host Mexico and Marcellus this week as Chittenango aimed for three matches against Westhill, Manlius-Pebble Hill and Bishop Grimes.
