CENTRAL NEW YORK – Even as other area high school boys tennis teams got underway with multiple matches the week before, Fayetteville-Manlius waited until last Monday’s clash with Cicero-North Syracuse to start its 2024 season.
The wait hardly hurt the Hornets, who blanked the Northstars 7-0 and did not drop a set in any of the singles matches, the closet one in singles where Ian Sul got past Mike DeGroat 6-3, 7-5. Colin Byer beat Parker Cook 6-4, 6-2 and Cameron Lukasik blanked Ryan Kiel 6-0, 6-0.
A long fourth doubles match had Sean Barnwell and Zach Costanza, down a set and in a tiebreak, stay in there and eventually win 6-7 (7-5), 7-6 (8-6), 10-6 over Joe Johnston and Gavin Nguyen, while the teams of Dan Manta-Justin Dunn, Jonathan So-John Gilligan and Jared Duggal-Sawyer Brown each won in two sets.
Jamesville-DeWitt won its fourth in a row last Monday when it beat Syracuse East 6-1, giving up a point in doubles but sweeping all three singles matches.
Anthony Fico and Zain Hegazy both had 6-0, 6-0 shutouts over, respectively, Jacob Montalbano and Tuan Nguyen, with Will Sharlow going a bit longer but beating David Peters 6-3, 6-1. The doubles teams of Carson Souser-Shreyank Bhatt, Dean Bratslavsky-Jacob Price and Harman Butalia-Mekael Hamlin each won in two sets.
Christian Brothers Academy got to 4-0 last Monday, handling Homer 5-0. Only the third singles match brought excitement, Gabriel Yang shut out in the first set but rallying past Cooper Layaw 0-6, 6-1, 6-4.
Chanu Yang and Soren Kang won with little drama in singles, and straight-set wins were earned by the doubles teams of Hunter Szatowski-Andrew Arcuri and Joe Riccelli-John Engle.
East Syracuse Minoa proved successful last Monday in a 6-1 victory over Oswego, getting two doubles forfeits but having the teams of Jayce Domres-Jacob Harmon and Donovan Randall-Brett Hockey drop just one game in four total sets.
Noah Satterlee lost in singles to Duncan Baker 7-5, 6-0, but Jacob McGuigan and Aaron Martin turned that around with 6-0, 6-0 singles shutouts over, respectively, Tyler Avalos and Jackson Hollenbeck.
Manlius Pebble Hill topped Mexico 5-0 for its third straight win, taking every match in straight sets. The singles trio of Jasmin Zaman, Jon Howard and Savir Gambhir all won in two sets, Gambhir enduring the closest call but topping Ethan Gilbert 6-4, 6-3 as, in doubles, the teams of Devan Trikha-Abe Salomon and Andy Lurvey-Sam Lurvey both won in two sets.
Keeping it up, MPH blanked LaFayette by that same 5-0 margin a day later, with Zaman, Howard and Gambhir not dropping a game in their singles matches while Trikha and Salomon got their own 6-0, 6-0 shutout of Tom Somerlot and Darren Benjamin.
Many other matches involving local teams were rained out late in the week, with the sides all hoping to resume action this week even as schools are off for the spring break.
