CENTRAL NEW YORK – Each of the area’s high school boys tennis teams went through all kinds of weather situations in the weeks leading up to the 2024 season, mostly forced indoors and occasionally getting outdoors.
But it all cleared up early last week to get some action underway, starting with Christian Brothers Academy, who right after the solar eclipse went to Austin Park for a season opener against Skaneateles.
And the Brothers won it 3-2, largely because its swept the two doubles matches. Hunter Szatkowski and Andrew Arcuri won 6-2, 6-4 over James Piazza and Kevin Torrisi, with Joe Riccelli and Caleb Buddie blanking Case Pavlus and Hunter Woodcock 6-0, 6-0.
Up in singles, Soren Kang and Gabriel Yang both lost their matches in two sets, but Chanu Yang, despite a long second set, was able to get the clinching point 6-2, 7-5 over Jake Salzhauer.
CBA then shut out Onondaga 5-0 a day later, with Yang, Buddie and Kang allowing just one game between them in six sets of singles play. There were shutouts from the doubles teams of Szatkowski-Arcuri and Ricelli-John Engle.
Manlius Pebble Hill earned its own 3-2 win over Skaneateles when, in singles, Jaasim Zaman beat Soderberg 6-4, 6-2 and Savir Gambhir handled Patrick Scott 6-1, 6-2. Andy and Sam Lurvey got the clinching doubles point, beating Pavlus and Torrisi 6-0, 6-2.
Back in action on Thursday afternoon, Manlius Pebble Hill improved its total, beating Phoenix 4-1 as all five of the matches were single-set races to 10 games.
Jon Howard lost in singles, but Zaman blanked Cooper Graham 10-0 and Gambhir did the same to Jackson Giacobbi. The Lurveys had a shutout, while Devan Trikha and Abe Salomon topped Sam Pritting and Liam Zalewski 10-3.
Jamesville-DeWitt opened against neighbor and rival East Syracuse Minoa, the Red Rams handling the Spartans 6-1.
Sweeping the singles, the Red Rams had Will Sharlow beat Aaron Martin 6-1, 6-2, with Anthony Fico blanking Luke Tumulty 6-0, 6-0 and Zain Hegazy winning 6-0, 6-2, over Denis Fisic.
ESM’s lone point came from doubles, where Carter Jacobs and Ari Oviedo got past Alex Parratt 6-2, 6-1, but J-D took the rest, including Jacob Price and Furqan Hasan outlasting Jacob McGuigan and Brett Hockey 6-4, 3-6, 10-6. The teams of Carson Souser-Shreyank Bhatt and Dean Bratslavsky-Kian Sarmast both prevailed in two sets.
Another win followed on Thursday, J-D turning back Auburn in a 7-0 shutout where every single match was won by the Rams in two sets.
Fico’s 6-0, 6-0 shutout of Colby Wagner highlighted the singles, where Sharlow beat Riley Fitzgerald 6-2, 6-1 and Hegazy handled Kevin Liu 6-2, 6-1. Of the four doubles matches, the closest involved Price and Hasan, who had a tight second set yet still won 6-0, 6-4 over Bill Li and Andrew Frazier.
Another 7-0 win followed on Friday, J-D romping past Oswego as Fico and Hegazy both had shutouts and Sharlow turned back Duncan Baker 6-1, 6-3. Just one game was allowed in six sets of three contested doubles matches by the teams of Souser-Bhatt, Bratslavsky-Sarmast and Price-Hasan.
Meanwhile, ESM broke into the win column by topping Fulton 5-2, helped by having a full lineup since the Red Dragons had to forfeit two doubles matches.
Still, Hockey and Donovan Randall paired up to blank Alex LaFrance and Aiden King 6-0, 6-0, with Jayce Domres and Jacob Harmon handling Fenix Robinson and Ayden Cusic 6-1, 6-1. Martin prevented Fulton from getting a singles sweep when he beat Max Scipone 6-3, 6-0.
