CENTRAL NEW YORK – Back on May 5, the Fayetteville-Manlius boys tennis team found itself locked in a tense duel with Baldwinsville with first place in the SCAC Metro division at stake.
The Hornets and Bees were tied with one match undecided, but then darkness halted the match. It would get resumed exactly one week later, and F-M earned the clinching point and prevailed 4-3 to stay undefeated.
In first singles, Cameron Lukasik beat Mason Doan 6-2, 7-5, while in doubles Dan Manta and Gene Balian handled Andrew Jung and Nick Helbig 6-0, 7-5.
But it took a pair of three-set matches to pull it out. Colin Byer outlasted Nathan Smith 6-3, 3-6, 6-2, while Jon So and Will Ferguson, two games from defeat, rallied for a 5-7, 7-5, 6-1 win over Ethan Haahr and Zach Pendergast.
Back on Tuesday afternoon, F-M faced Liverpool and prevailed 6-1, only stumbling in first singles when Lukasik took a 6-1, 6-3 defeat to Justin Barrett.
Byer and Andrew Fitts both won their singles matches in straight sets. The doubles teams of Balian-Manta and Kalen Michez-Justin Dunn did not drop a game, either, though Ferguson and Xavier Sui ad to work harder to beat Kasey Maher and Raury Bienkowski 6-3, 6-4.
Right before the B’ville match resumed, F-M handled Cicero-North Syracuse 7-0, Byer taking the closest of the three singles matches 7-5, 6-0 over Brandon Nguyen as, by those same scores in doubles, John Gilligan and Agniva Chadhuri beat Tim Mai and Joe DeGroat.
Jamesville-DeWitt took on B’ville and swept every singles match. Mark Bratslavsky beat Doan 6-0, 6-2 as Shreyank Bhatt topped Zach Treichler 6-4, 6-0 and Anthony Fico beat Aidan DeLaney 6-3, 6-1.
But the Red Rams lost all of the doubles matches and took a 4-3 defeat, the closest coming in first doubles, when Will Sharlow and Carson Souser had a close second set but fell 6-0, 7-5 to Jung and Helbig.
Rebounding from this, J-D blanked Central Square 7-0 on Thursday, not dropping a set in any of those seven matches. In doubles, Kai Brutsaert and Nate Amere had the closest match, beating Max Peters and Sam Fallows 6-4, 7-5.
It was a doubles sweep that pulled J-D past Cazenovia 5-2 on Friday, none of the four doubles sides dropping more than one game in any set. The Lakers won twice in singles, but Mark Bratslavsky topped Traian Cherciu 6-3, 6-4.
Christian Brothers Academy was off for nearly two weeks before resuming last Tuesday and shutting out Homer 5-0.
The doubles teams of Will Vandemeer-Soren Kang and Finn Doyle-Caleb Buddie did not drop a single game, whlie in the two contested singles matches Gabriel Yang beat Randolph Kruman 6-0, 6-2 as Hunter Szatkkowski handled Drew Cotterill 6-1, 6-0.
And it led to a showdown Wednesday between CBA and Cazenovia, leaders in the OHSL Liberty American division, with the Brothers doing just enough to edge the Lakers 3-2.
East Syracuse Minoa was close against Auburn last Monday but fell 4-3, the Maroons winning two of the three singles matches as Jacob McGuigan got the Spartans on the board, beating Brody Wagner 6-2, 7-5.
In doubles, ESM had Ari Oviedo and Donovan Randall go to three sets to beat Braden Sherman and Kyle Green 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, with Brett Hockey and Dan Krusse handling Mike Wellauer and John White 6-2, 6-3.
Turning it around on Wednesday, ESM toppled Central Square 5-2, claiming three of the four matches that went to three sets along with a win from Josh Spilka in singles 6-4, 6-2 over Shaun Saunders.
McGuigan outlasted Akira Kuratate 6-1, 5-7, 6-3, while Noah Satterlee got past Michael Schaap and, in doubles, Oviedo paired with Jacob Sehn to top Lance and Vincent Bardoun 6-3, 3-6, 6-3. Jayce Domres and Jacob Harmon had a 6-2, 3-6, 7-6 (7-4) defeat to Thai Ryfun and Owen Peck.
All this led to Friday’s 6-1 win over Oswego where, for ESM, all four doubles matches were won in straight sets, Harmon claimed a singles forfeit and McGuigan won a 10-4 third set over Lucas Maniccia. Playing again on Saturday, the Spartans lost 7-0 to C-NS.
