CENTRAL NEW YORK – In the end, no regular-season opponent would get close to the Fayetteville-Manlius and Jamesville-DeWitt boys tennis teams in the 2022 regular season.
F-M began the week by crushing Cicero-North Syracuse 7-0, with Xavier Sul taking a turn in singles and, surviving a second-set tie-breaker, beat Ryan Keil 6-2, 7-6 (7-1).
David Fernando and Cameron Lukasik lost just one game apiece in their singles matches, while the four Hornets doubles teams dropped just one total game in eight sets.
In Wednesday’s 7-0 win over Liverpool, Sul survived a third-set tie-breaker to edge Will Balduf 6-2, 1-6, 7-6 (8-6), but the Hornets swept the rest of the matches as, in the closest doubles match, Justin Dunn and Kaelem Michel defeated Aiden Hunter and Andrew Caimano 6-2, 6-1.
Finally, F-M did drop a point Friday in a rematch with C-NS, but it hardly stopped the Hornets, who still eased past the Northstars 6-1.
A singles sweep included Fernando’s 6-0, 6-0 shutout of Brady Petranchuk, with Lukasik beating Wyatt Dupell 6-1, 6-3 and Sul handling Timothy Mai by those same scores.
Anay Dalal and James Hoehner lost in doubles 6-3, 6-4 to Mike DeGroat and Andrew George, but the teams of Jaden Duggal-Davin Woolridge, Fergus Brady-Colin Byer and Gene Balian-Dan Manta each prevailed in two sets.
And it all led to Saturday’s regular-season finale, where F-M locked up yet another SCAC Metro division regular-season title with a hard-fought 6-1 victory over second-place Baldwinsville.
Setting the tone in singles, Fernando wiped out Mason Doan 6-0, 6-1 and Lukasik had a 6-0, 6-0 shutout of Logan Bolton, which made up for Byer’s 6-4, 6-3 defeat to Tyler Blum.
To preserve a sweep in doubles, Duggal and Woolridge had to work through three long sets to get past Max Funicello and Nick Licciardello 7-5, 4-6, 6-4.
Brady and Andrew Li paired up, beating Andrew Jung and Connor Tutor 7-5, 6-0. Balian and Manta won 6-2, 6-1 over Aidan Delaney and Zach Treichler as Dalal and Justin Zheng teamed to top Cameron Dougherty and Aidan Stan in two sets 6-0, 7-5.
J-D tested itself against Cazenovia, one of the Onondaga High School League’s top teams, last Tuesday afternoon, and dropped a point but still beat the Lakers 4-1.
In three sets, Carson Souser got past Garret Lounsbury 6-3, 5-7, 6-1 as Mark Bratslavsky beat Traian Cherciu 6-3, 6-4. Anthony Fico lost to Jake Wardell 6-1, 6-1.
Another three-set match took place in doubles, with Isiah Sternberg and Dean Bratslavsky outlasting Carter Ruddy and Cy Lurie 6-1, 1-6, 7-5. Will Sharlow and Shreyank Bhatt handled Andrew Falso and Gabe Reagan 6-3, 6-0.
A 6-1 victory over Auburn followed on Thursday, with Bratslavsky, Souser and Fico dropping just two games in six total sets of singles play. The Rams dropped a point in doubles, but claimed the others, including a three-set duel where Sternberg and Daksh Maini rallied to beat Colby Wagner and Tom Deming 2-6, 6-1, 6-2.
