Any sort of weather window that allowed the Skaneateles boys tennis team to get its 2018 season underway was welcome after snow and poor conditions that drove most spring sports teams indoors.
And while it was still chilly last Monday afternoon, the Lakers were still able to have its opener against LaFayette and claim all the points in a 5-0 shutout of the Lancers.
Duncan Raddant took the first singles position for Skaneateles and handled Brennen Thrall 6-2, 6-1. Dan Judge had a 6-0, 6-1 win over Dante Friedman as Jack Belinski won over Taylor Tummino 6-0, 6-0.
On the doubles side, the Lakers had Andrew Neumann and Nate Fouts get their own 6-0, 6-0 win over Travis Cruickshank and Luke Wanlass, while Chris Burgher and Jack Panasci topped Lexi Harrington and Brandon Benjamin 6-0, 6-1.
Two days later, Skaneateles took on Homer, but suffered its first defeat of the season, falling 3-2 to the Trojans.
Judge nabbed a singles point when he got past Alex Cottrell 6-3, 6-4, only to see Fouts run into Ben Herman and take a 6-0, 6-1 defeat, with Raddant losing to Vince Saraceno 6-0, 6-2.
Burgher and Panasci won again, handling Sean Powers and Adam Brown 6-1, 6-4. But when Newman and Burgher paired up, they lost a 6-2, 6-4 decision to Nate Potter and Spencer Rusyniak.
Another close match followed on Friday, against Cazenovia, but Skaneateles was able to claim this Laker duel by that same 3-2 margin by which it fell to Homer.
In first singles, Radannt lost to Mitch Romig 6-3, 6-1, but Skaneateles earned the other points as Judge routed Liam Flannery 6-1, 6-1 and Belinski defeated Dan Kempinski 6-4, 6-1.
Skaneateles dropped a point in doubles when Burgher and Panaschi lost, 6-2, 6-3, to Dan Gavilondo and Teddy Coughlin. But it got the clinching point when Neumann and Fouts rolled past Aiden Kalteski and Adrian Castro 6-1, 6-3.
