ONONDAGA COUNTY – Warm sunshine greeted the Cicero-North Syracuse and Liverpool boys tennis teams as they faced one another last Tuesday for the first of two renewals of the long-time rivalry between the two schools.
And it would go 5-2 in the Northstars’ favor as it claimed two of the three singles matches and three of the four points in doubles.
In first singles, the Warriors’ Justin Barrett rolled past Ryan Kiel 6-1, 6-0, but C-NS countered with Mike DeGroat routing Kasey Maher 6-1, 6-1 and Parker Cook getting a 6-3, 6-0 win over Patrick Clancy.
Two close matches took place in doubles, with the Northstars’ Ryan Fehrman and Zarin Liangsiri outlasting Melvin Tran and Andrew Wadie 6-4, 2-6, 7-5 as Liverpool countered with Greyson Valente and Raury Bienkowski getting past Drew Errante and Dylan Fournier 6-4, 1-6, 6-3.
But C-NS pulled clear with two straight-set wins. Tom Christou and Austin Fosberg handled Dan Haynes and John Ioannidis 7-5, 6-2 as Joe Johnston and Gavin Nguyen won 6-0, 6-3 over Matt McKeon and Edesiri Uloho.
They were together again Friday for the rematch, and it was even closer – but again, the Northstars emerged victorious, this time by a 4-3 margin.
The four doubles matches were split. Fehrman, now paired with Kiel, beat Haynes and Maher 6-1, 6-0, while Johnston and Evan Scott paired for a 6-0, 6-0 shutout of Uloho and Dan Wadie.
Liverpool won the only match that went to three sets, Valente and Andrew Wadie rallying past Christou and Fosberg 6-7 (7-5), 6-1, 6-1 as, in two sets, Ioannidis and Aydan Presley topped Fournier and Errante 6-4, 6-3.
Up in singles, Barrett rolled again 6-1, 6-2 over Liangrisi, but C-NS got the other two singles points, DeGroat beating Clancy 6-1, 6-2 and Cook rolling past Joe Ciotti 6-0, 6-0.
Just before it faced C-NS the first time, Liverpool prevailed twice last Monday afternoon over West Genesee and East Syracue Minoa, each of them by 5-2 margins.
Against the Wildcats, the closest match coming in fourth doubles, when in three sets Wadie and Uhoro worked past Dhruv Sharma and Jonah Hanlon 6-1, 4-6, 6-1.
Otherwise, the doubles teams of McKeon-Ioannidis and Bienkowski-Valente each won in sraight sets. Barrett shut out Nate Ruston 6-0, 6-0 and Maher worked to a 6-4, 6-2 win over Jacob Dalton.
Then, facing ESM, it was a singles sweep by Barrett, Maher and Clancy with just five games dropped in six sets. The doubles matches were split, McKeon and Ioannidis beating Donovan Randall and Aaron Martin 7-5, 6-3 as Bienkowski and Valente got past Carter Jacobs and Phillip Evans 7-5, 6-3.
C-NS met Auburn on Wednesday and blanked the Maroons 7-0, with the singles trio of Keil, DeGroat and Cook dropping just one game in six combined sets. The only close doubles match had Fehrman and Liangrisi survive a first-set tiebreak and win 7-6 (7-3), 6-2 over Brody Wagner and Chase Abdelaziz.
Liverpool, meanwhile, lost 5-2 to Baldwinsville, the second time this season it fell to the Bees. Barrett won in singles, as did Clancy, who routed Alex Trasher 6-1, 6-1, but B’ville took every doubles match, the closest of them when Haynes and Valente paired up in a 6-2, 7-5 defeat to Ethon Haahr and Zach Pendergast.
B’ville also played C-NS on Thursday and blanked the Northstars 7-0, though C-NS would turn that around against Liverpool a day later.
