CENTRAL NEW YORK – During a busy Tuesday morning and afternoon, the Baldwinsville boys tennis and girls golf teams battled for varying Section III honors.
In the case of the boys tennis Bees, it was trying to win at the Section III state qualifying tournament at Utica Parkway Courts, where trips to New York City and berths in next weekend’s New York State Public High School Athletic Association championships were on the line.
Antonio Marsallo, the top seed in singles, won 6-2, 6-1 over Max Karpinski (Skaneateles) and routed Sam Yang (Indian River) 6-0, 6-1 before running into Cooperstown’s Gunter Weldon in the semifinals and lost 6-3, 6-2.
Meanwhile, in doubles B’ville’s team of Max Funicello and Nick Licciardello made their own run to the semifinals, one win short of an automatic state qualification.
After beating Aidan and Liam Spencer (Cooperstown) 6-0, 6-2, Funicello and Licciardello routed Cazenovia’s Cy Lurie and Carter Ruddy 6-0, 6-1 in the quarterfinals and led early in the semifinals, but could not hold on as Jamesville-DeWitt’s Mark Bratslavsky and Luke Cantone rallied 2-6, 6-3, 6-3.
So on Thursday, when the third-place matches took place, B’ville’s players had to win – and did.
Marsallo, against Fayetteville-Manlius’ David Fernando, was in full command, prevailing 6-3, 6-3. And when Funicello and Licciardello were able to make it through a first-set tie-breaker and win, 7-6, 6-0, over the Hornets’ duo of Fergus Brady and Andrew Li, they joined Marsallo in advancing to the state tournament.
Back on Tuesday, Andrew Jung and Connor Tutor were victorious 6-0, 6-2 over Cooperstown’s Addison Lewis and Ashlyn Wolfe before a quarterfinal, where Brady and Li beat them 6-1, 6-3.
