CORTLAND – It ultimately proved a banner season for the Cazenovia boys tennis team.
By finishing in the top three of every single division and prevailing in two of them, the Lakers emerged victorious from Wednesday’s Section III Class C-1 championships at SUNY-Cortland.
In order to top runner-up Holland Patent by four points, Cazenovia had to find success in both singles and doubles – which it did.
Traian Cherciu was the champion in first singles. Working from a top seed, Cherciu got past Anthony Pitts (Manlius Pebble Hill) 7-6, 6-4, in the semifinals, and in the title match handled Skaneateles’ Max Karpinski 6-3, 6-1.
As for second doubles, Cy Lurie and Carter Ruddy handled Abbie Ainsle and Madeline Briggs (Mount Markham) 6-1, 6-1 in the semifinals and then, in a tense final against HP’s Dan Carhart and William Zimmerman, pulled out a 6-4, 5-7, 6-3 decision.
Garret Lounsbury went to the second singles final by beating Jake Salzhauer (Skaneateles) 6-3, 6-3, but then took a 6-2, 6-3 defeat to HP’s Jeff Dewar.
Andrew Falso and Gabe Reagan won in straight sets over Owen Allen-Bryant Denza (Mount Markham) and Izzy Marcus-Jason Rivera (Clinton) to reach the first singles title match before a 6-3, 7-5 loss to the Skaneateles duo of Hatcher Gutchess and Marcus McClanahan.
Jake Wardell snared third place in third singles, doing so with a 6-1, 6-0 romp over Dani Williams (Mount Markham) after a semifinal defeat to HP’s Carter Williams, who went on to win.
Three days later, Cazenovia faced C-2 champion Cooperstown, and the Lakers beat the Hawkeyes 3-2 to earn a berth in Monday’s match against Class B champion New Hartford with a berth in the state team tournament on the line.
Wardell shut out Natalie Hanson 6-0, 6-0, with Lounsbury beating Justin Wolfe 6-0, 6-1, both of them making up for Cherciu’s 6-3, 6-1 loss to Gunter Weldon.
So it hinged on doubles, and again Lurie and Ruddy came through, beating Addison Lewis and Ashlyn Wolfe 6-4, 6-3 as Falso and Reagan lost to Aidan and Liam Spencer 7-6, 6-4.
Over in the sectional Class B tournament, Chittenango found modest success, with Artie Paul and Jake Simmons winning a 4-6, 7-6, 6-4 match over Jackson Henderson and Brandon McLaughlin (Homer) before a 6-3, 6-3 semifinal loss to Jamesville-DeWitt’s William Parratt and Carson Souser.
In first doubles, Josh Boulter and Luke Dahlin won 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 over Ryan Lusher and Ethan Schmidt, then lost in the semifinals 6-2, 6-1to J-D’s Mark Bratslavsky and Luke Cantone..
But Boulter and Dahlin won third place when they swept Tyler Kinne and Nolan Robinson (Vernon-Verona-Sherrill) 6-3, 6-3, and Paul and Simmons earned the same in second doubles when they beat VVS’s Jack Mitchell and Lincoln Pelc 6-2, 6-0.
Logan Bronner beat Zach Giarusso (Camden) 6-0, 6-1 in third singles before a 6-0, 6-2 quarterfinal loss to Oneida’s Drew Hicks. Micah Alperuto lost in the first round in second singles to Homer’s Raymond Meng 6-1, 6-0.
