Less than a week before its appearance in the Section III Class A playoffs, the Baldwinsville boys tennis team engaged in a classic league battle when it took on West Genesee last Thursday afternoon.
The Bees would need every bit of its strength in singles to withstand the strong work by the Wildcats in doubles and pull out a 4-3 victory.
Nick Licciardello earned the key point in singles, going to three sets to beat Noah Ruston 7-5, 2-6, 6-4. B’ville earned the other two singles points in straight sets as Antonio Marsallo blanked Erik Shanahan 6-0, 6-0, with Max Funicello getting a 6-2, 6-0 win over Carter McCrea.
In doubles, two leads got away as Diego Aguirre and Eric Smith, two games from victory, fell to Ryan Joyce and Max Mekker 5-7, 7-5, 6-2, with Anthony Pompo and Alex Taylor taking a 4-6, 6-3, 6-1 loss to Stefan Atanasov and Matt Mannara.
Though Sam Damato and Alex Shaban lost to John Northrop and James Plunkett 6-2, 6-2, B’ville got a doubles point when Jonathan Oad and Beckett Plumley rolled past Jackson Craig and Michael White 6-1, 6-0.
Meanwhile, all of the regular-season work for the Baldwinsville girls golf team is done, with the best Bees players going to Kanon Valley Country Club in Oneida Tuesday to take part in the Section III championships.
They had already seen Fayetteville-Manlius up-close twice, including last Tuesday’s match at Green Lakes where, again, the Hornets’ depth was on display as it defeated B’ville 166-199.
Emma Brushingham did tie for second among individuals with a 41 for nine holes, matching Maggie Bonomo but trailing the 36 from Bailey Wallace. Margaret Dec shot a 48, with Colleen Vredenburg (53) four shots ahead of Cara Vredenburg (57).
B’ville won last Monday over East Syracuse Minoa Orange’s side, with Sydney Tse at the forefront for the Bees as she shot a 49, a full 14 shots ahead of the Spartans’ top round by Jessica Carhart.
Another victory came on Wednesday afternoon, the Bees topping Cicero-North Syracuse’s Green Team 213-251 as Brushingham got a 46 at Timber banks and the Northstars’ low round was a 57 by Madison Costello.
B’ville hosted Auburn on Friday afternoon, where the Maroons’ three-time individual state champion, Lindsay May, shot a 36, but the Bees still won 208-225 with a balanced lineup behind the 46 from Margaret Dec.
