CENTRAL NEW YORK – Armed with a 9-0 record and back on the court, the Cazenovia boys tennis team would take the measure of Christian Brothers Academy in a clash of the two leaders in the Onondaga High School League Liberty divisions.
The Lakers, who sat atop the National division, and the Brothers, who led the American division, would stay close all the way through, but CBA pulled it out by a 3-2 margin.
A day earlier, Cazenovia had returned to action against Pulaski and blanked the Blue Devils 5-0 for its ninth win in a row.
Traian Cherciu and Garret Lounsbury paired in doubles and won 6-0, 6-0 over Ben Bennett and Ethan Wiegel, while Devon Wood and Connor Gale topped Ford Brown and Noah Gonzalez 6-0, 6-4.
Getting a turn in singles, Gabe Reagan beat Federico Pellegrini 6-3, 6-4 as Evan Molloy prevailed in two sets and Ethan Camp handled Colton Dufrane 6-0, 6-1.
Then, right after the CBA match, Cazenovia returned to winning form a day later, handling Phoenix 5-0 as the singles trio of Cherciu, Lounsbury and Reagan did not lose a game in any of their matches.
Pushed to a third-set tie-breaker, Cy Laurie and Ethan Camp edged Ethan Bruno and Dylan Jones 6-4, 5-7, 7-6 (8-6), while Molloy and Max Reger got past Robert Reynolds and Cayden McKay 6-3, 7-6 (7-2).
Another tough opponent loomed on Friday – Jamesville-DeWitt, and though again the Lakers made inroads, again it took a defeat, 5-2, to the Red Rams.
Lounsbury roared past Anthony Fico 6-1, 6-0, with Reagan defeating Dean Bratslavsky 6-0, 6-2, but Cherciu could not quite pull off a singles sweep, falling to Mark Bratslavsky 6-3, 6-4.
Then J-D dominated the doubles, claiming all four matches in straight sets and not losing more than one game in any of the eight sets played.
Chittenango faced Phoenix on Wednesday and handled the Firebirds 6-1 as the Bears dominated singles play.
Logan Bronner and Micah Alpuerto each won 6-0, 6-0 matches over, respectively, Cayden McKay and Brandon Ingoldby, with Seth Boulter handling Cooper Graham 6-0, 6-1.
Though Noah Edwards and Kyle Werhlin lost in doubles to Ethan Bruno and Dylan Jones 6-3, 6-2, Vinny DiNatale and Seamus Gardner got a point by handling Liam Campanino and Robert Reynolds 6-3, 6-4.
A day later, it was the Bears defeating LaFayette 5-0, with Boulter blanking Ian Colburn 6-0, 6-0 and Alpuerto and Bronner doing the same when they paired in doubles to beat Sye Stanton and Darren Benjamin. Edwards got a turn in singles and topped Andrew Kostiv 6-1, 6-1.
