At least for this season, the Liverpool boys tennis team has the edge on Cicero-North Syracuse.
The second head-to-head meeting between these two rivals last Tuesday afternoon would go 5-2 in the Warriors’ favor, a more lopsided result than the 4-3 win Liverpool produced when it beat the Northstars on April 20.
Two of the three singles matches went to Liverpool as Caleb Munski handled Edwin Hirsh 6-1, 6-1, while Anthony Puma dispastched Wyatt Dupell 6-2, 6-1. C-NS got a point from James Corl, who topped Brandon Davis 6-1, 6-2.
To get the Warriors going in doubles, Fillipo Valenti and Ben White claimed a 6-0, 6-2 win over Kyle Bulko and Evan Haberek, just as C-NS had Jon Corl and Brandon Millias get past Aaron Alejo and Andrew Johnson 6-2, 6-1.
The closest of the doubles matches had the Warriors’ Caleb Arnold and Jeff Noll topple Ryan Gallagher and Ryan Hill 6-1, 5-7, 6-4. Braydon Cabrey and Jon Kline beat Joe Bowen and Jack Doren 7-5, 6-3,
A day earlier, when Liverpool took on Baldwinsville last Monday, it earned a single point, but nothing more against the Bees in a 6-1 defeat.
Alejo, overcoming a shutout in the second set, won that point for the Warriors by topping Nick Licciardello 6-3, 0-6, 6-4. B’ville won every other match in straight sets, the closest of them in doubles, where Munski and Valenti made some inroads in a 6-4, 6-2 defeat to Anthony Pompo and Alex Taylor.
C-NS faced Oswego on April 27, and they played eight matches, with the Northstars able to claim a majority of them and beat the Buccaneers 5-3.
Hirsh earned a key point in singles, rallying to beat Nick Back 2-6, 6-3, 6-3. James Corl had an easier time topping John Rice 6-1, 6-0 as Hill routed Abhuit Tripathi 6-0, 6-2.
In a three-set doubles epic, Doren and Jamie Courtright were down a set and facing a second-set tie-breaker, yet still pulled out a 5-7, 7-6, 11-9 decision over Zach Cary and Chris Colusurdo. In straight sets, Bowen and Gallagher beat Zach DeMott and Sasha Loayza 7-6, 7-3.
Bulko and Haberek went to three sets, yet lost to Nick Holland and Matt Mace 6-0, 6-7, 6-2. Also in three sets, Millias and Jon Corl fell to Jacob Lenahan and Lucas Shepardson 6-3, 2-6, 6-4.
Another non-league match for C-NS came on Wednesday after the defeat to Liverpool, with the Northstars falling 5-1 to Oneida, nabbing its only point when Millias and Jon Corl paired up to beat Kyle Fisher and James Rositer 6-4, 6-3.
Of the Indians’ five points, four of them came in straight-set affairs. In a three-set singles battle, James Corl led Aidan Hicks early, but could not hold on, taking a 4-6, 6-2, 6-1 defeat.
C-NS then lost, 7-0, to unbeaten Fayetteville-Manlius on Thursday. The Corl brothers paired up, but lost, 6-0, 6-0, to Hornets stars Taran Judge and Riley Ma as, in three sets, Bowen and Doren fell to Victor Chen and Neil Khurana 6-1, 2-6, 6-1.
As that went on, Liverpool took on West Genesee, and lost 5-2 to the Wildcats. Both points were in doubles, where Barbour and Cabrey overcame a bad start to beat Anthony DiLorenzo and Carter McCrea 1-6, 6-3, 6-3 as Noll and Arnold handled Max Mekker and Michael White 6-4, 6-4.
The Wildcats won all three singles matches, with Johnson and Munski pushing WG’s Ryan Joyce and Erik Shanahan to three sets in a 6-3, 6-7, 10-5 defeat as, in doubles, Davis and White lost, 6-4, 6-3, to Stefan Atanasov and John Northrop.
