ONONDAGA COUNTY – Once again, area high school boys tennis teams found that the most difficult opponent was stubborn wet weather that clung to Central New York through most of the first full week of May.
Onondaga-Westhill and Marcellus went head-to-head last Monday afternoon before the rains, and the Warriors got the best of it, topping the Mustangs 4-1.
In a pivotal doubles match, OCS-Westhill’s duo of Angelo Carr and Nate Hay rallied in three sets for a 5-7, 6-0, 6-2 win over Tyler Szalach and Austin Voss as Hardsheep Banga and Sophia Featherstone won over Michael Deveroux and Tucker Guerina 6-3, 6-2.
Marcellus got its lone point in first singles when Chris Barbaro swept Jon Massaro 6-4, 6-1. The Warriors countered with Paul Okhman beating Dan Fox 6-2, 6-0 and Shay Smyth blanking Matt Vitale 6-0, 6-0.
Moving on from there, OCS-Westhill edged past Manlius-Pebble Hill 3-2 on Thursday afternoon, largely because the Trojans had to default doubles matches to the teams of Carr-Hay and Banga-Featherstone.
Smyth got another 6-0, 6-0 shutout, this one over Matt Roberson, making up for Okhman taking a 6-3, 6-4 singles defeat to MPH’s Alex Fung.
In another 3-2 decision on Friday, OCS-Westhill got past Chittenango, this time seeing Massaro, Smyth and Okhman all win their singles matches, dropping just one game apiece against the Bears’ trio of Josh Boulter, Micah Alperuto and Andrew Graf.
As that went on, West Genesee earned its first win of the season against Fulton, not dropping a point as the Wildcats handled the Red Raiders 5-0.
Matt Mannara and Noah Ruston both won 6-0, 6-0 singles matches over, respectively, Kieran O’Hanlon and Ryan Nichols, with Ben Paoli handling Reid Devendorf 6-1, 6-0.
On the doubles side, WG had Joe Paoli and Alex Toumbacaris take out Riley Thompson and Everett Wood 6-2, 6-1, with Sam Barth and Josh Pierce claiming a forfeit.
Skaneateles played last Wednesday against LaFayette and rolled past the Lancers 5-0 in its season opener, with Max Karpinski topping Hunter Martorella 6-0, 6-2 in singles as Jake Salzhauer beat Paul Coon 6-1, 6-0.
Moving to the doubles side, the Lakers’ team of Andrew Neumann and Trevor Knupp beat Branon Benjamin and Mason Shute 6-0, 6-2, with Duncan Raddant and Hatcher Gutchess getting a 6-0, 6-0 shutout of Ben Haskins and Lindsay Carroll.
