The West Genesee boys tennis team would plunge into the heart of its Salt City Athletic Conference Metro division schedule as long as the weather held up.
In last Monday’s match against Syracuse East, the Wildcats won big, 7-0, as in singles Noah Ruston and Ryan Joyce had equal 6-0, 6-3 wins over, respectively, Hanh Duong and Matt Houck, with Ben Paoli handling Devin Kha 6-2, 6-1.
WG also took the quartet of doubles matches, with Cade Duda and Greg Fey surviving a third-set tie-breaker to complete its rally and beat Freddy Butler and Curran Shannon 2-6, 6-4, 7-6.
Matt Mannara and James Plunkett blanked Kyle Giardine and Thomas Moore 6-0, 6-0, with David Puma and Michael White topping Yasin Hassan and Salimo Musa by those same scores. Stefan Atanasov and Max Mekker won, 6-0, 6-2, over Chris Edmunds and Devin Murphy-Stanley.
Another 7-0 shutout followed on Wednesday, this one over Liverpool, as WG got singles wins from Plunkett and Mannara, along with Paoli, who beat Austin Huntress-Kennedy 6-3, 6-1.In the closest of the four doubles matches, Atanasov and Ruston paired to beat Aiden Barbour and Ben White 6-2, 6-3.
WG went for three in a row Thursday at Baldwinsville, and nearly got there, only to get turned away in a tense 4-3 defeat to the Bees where five of the seven matches went to three sets.
Mekker and Ty Lisi paired up to rally past Phil Fiorentino and Connor Tutor 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, just as Good and Paoli overcame a brutal start to win, 0-6, 6-3, 6-4 over Colin Savage and Clayon Speach.
But though Mannara dominated Eric Smith 6-1, 6-0 in singles, the Bees claimed the other singles matches, including one that went to a third-set tie-breaker before Joyce lost, 7-5, 1-6, 7-6 to Leonardo Vona.
Then Atanasov and Ruston saw their own lead slip away in a 1-6, 6-3, 6-4 defeat to Max Funicello and Nick Licciardello, while Puma and White lost, 6-1, 4-6, 6-3 to Hunter Dukat and Christian Treichler.
Skaneateles proved successful in last Monday’s match against Chittenango, topping the Bears 4-1. Nate Fouts and Andrew Neumann blanked David Seale and Nate Smith 6-0, 6-0, with Chris Burgher and Jack Panasci defeating Devon Hardy and Brian Schermerhorn 6-1, 6-1.
In singles, Duncan Raddant lost a 6-2, 0-6, 7-2 battle to Evan Edwards, but the Lakers made up for it by having Luke Lynn and Trevor Knupp each win 6-0, 6-0 matches over, respectively, Evan Smith and Sean Larsson.
A day later, Skaneateles beat Phoenix 5-0. Raddant and Lynn both had go to three sets, Raddant defeating Ryan Lange 6-4, 0-6, 6-4 and Lynn surviving a third-set tie-breaker to beat Evan Baldini 1-6, 7-5, 7-6 (10-8).
Otherwise, Knupp did handle Logan Chapman 6-1, 6-0, with the doubles teams of Fouts-Neumann and Hatcher Gutchess-Marcus McClanahan both needing just two sets to prevail.
Marcellus got in four matches last Monday against Manlius-Pebble Hill before the rains showed up, with the Mustangs taking a 3-1 defeat to the Trojans.
Andrew Kammer, in singles, defeated Dan Braverman 6-4, 6-4, but Tyler Guerrina fell to Charlie Mann 6-2, 6-1, and the doubles teams of Nick Hahn-Tyler Szalach and Dan Fox-Joe Perleoni both lost in two sets.
But the Mustangs did beat Chittenango 3-1 on Thursday. All the points came from singles, with Kammer and Barbaro easily winning and Guerrina, in three sets, outlasted Anthony Roberts 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 for the clinching point.
Westhill roared past Bishop Grimes 5-0 last Tuesday, with D.J. Caloia blanking Zed Weigand 6-0, 6-0 as Ryan Rolince beat Jeff Wang 6-2, 6-1 and Jackson Bradley beat Harry Hu 6-0, 6-2. The doubles teams of Tom Chaddock-Mike Ferrara and Noah Dematties-Kyle Hagrman also won in two sets.
A 4-1 win over Onondaga followed a day later, with Jaideep Dhamoon losing in singles, but Bradley and Caloia winning as Chaddock and Ferrara beat Paul Okhman and Ty Zych 6-0, 6-2, with Dematties and Hagrman handling Michaela Germain and Nate Hay 6-0, 6-1
The win streak ended with Thursday’s 4-1 loss to Mexico. Caloia and Rolince topped Jacob Hill and Connor Shaffer 6-2, 6-1, but the Tigers claimed every singles match in two sets and went on, a day later, to beat Skaneateles 4-0.
On that same Friday, Westhill got another 5-0 victory, this one over LaFayette, with Caloia, Hargman and Dan Ferrara all winning in singles, Caloia and Hagrman not dropping a game.
Rolince and Bradley paired in doubles and rolled past Mark Humphrey and Adam McIntyre 6-0, 6-1. Chaddock and Mike Ferrara won, 6-1, 6-1, over Scott Heath and Mason Shute.
