CENTRAL NEW YORK – Five area high school boys tennis teams would all go in pursuit of Section III championships early last week, evading rain and other weather issues -and two of them would get to the top.
Jamesville-DeWitt did so in Class B, getting into Thursday’s title match against unbeaten top seed New Hartford and prevailing in a 3-2 classic with a comeback in third doubles.
After dropping the first set 6-4, Dean Bratslavsky and Jacob Price took over their match with New Hartford’s Dylan Berg and Ohm Patel, winning the next two sets 6-2 and 6-1 for the clinching point.
Both of the other points came in singles, where Anthony Fico quickly put away Leo Padula 6-2, 6-0 and Carson Souser, moving up to first singles, beat David Berg 6-4, 6-2.
To get it going, J-D first made it through last Monday’s quarterfinal against no. 7 seed Vernon-Verona-Sherrill, handling the Red Devils 4-1.
The doubles teams of Carson Souser-Shreyank Bhatt got a shutout, as did Kian Sarmast and Dean Bratslavsky. Up in singles, the Red Rams got two of three points as Will Sharlow beat Lincoln Pelc 6-1, 6-0 and Anthony Fico handled Ryan Mitchell 6-3, 6-0.
Then the rain-shortened semifinal against no. 3 seed Oneida ended 3-0 in J-D’s favor. Souser and Bhatt blanked Evan Gwilt and Michael Griffing 6-0, 6-0, with Fico handling Ethan Schmitt 6-1, 6-0 and Bratslavsky topping Anden Mertens 6-2, 6-1.
Again ruling Class A, Fayetteville-Manlius would have to, in Friday’s title match, beat the same Baldwinsville side it held off two weeks earlier by a 4-3 margin.
Yet the rematch would prove more convincing in the Hornets’ favor, a 6-1 decision fueled by winning all four of the doubles matches in straight sets.
Dan Manta and Justin Dunn got it going in first doubles, beating Nick Helbig and Andrew Jung 6-1, 6-4, while Xavier Sul and John Gilligan had a 6-3, 6-3 win over Zach Pendergast and Ethon Haahr.
Both of the other doubles matches were 6-3, 6-2 wins for F-M, Sawyer Brown and Jared Duggal beating Kai Wilson and Nick Fogu as Zach Costantza and Will Ferguson beat Connor Donovan and Tom Canfield.
Up in singles, Jonathan So took a 6-1, 6-1 loss to Nathan Smith, but Cameron Lukasik and Colin Byer made up for it, Lukasik taking out Mason Doan 6-2, 6-3 and Byer working through two tough sets to beat Eric Ventura 6-4, 7-5.
Before this, F-M had to meet no. 4 seed Christian Brothers Academy in Thursday’s semifinals and won by that same 6-1 margin.
The doubles teams of Dunn-Manta, Sul-Gilligan, Brown-Duggal and Ferguson-Costanza did not drop more than three games in any set they played. Soren Kang beat Byer 6-4, 6-1, but by those same scores Lukasik beat Chanu Yang and Jonathan So prevailed 6-3, 6-3 over Gabriel Yang.
East Syracuse Minoa was in the other semifinal against B’ville, and unable to get a point against the Bees in a 7-0 defeat. All the matches were done in two sets, the closest of them in doubles, where Donovan Randall and Brett Hockey nearly grabbed the second set, but fell to Pendergast and Haahr 6-2, 6-4.
All had got through the quarterfinal round last Monday, F-M blanking Central Square 7-0 without dropping more than two games in any set of any match as CBA topped Syracuse East by that same margin and ESM put away Utica Proctor 5-2.
Besides a singles shutout, CBA got through doubles with one small scare with Syracuse East, John Engle and Joe Riccelli getting past Sundip Subba and James Saufley 7-5, 6-4.
ESM saw one singles and one doubles point get away against Proctor, but three of the doubles matches were won in straight sets along with Aaron Martin rallying past Wun Dan Hkawng 5-7, 6-1, 6-1 and Jacob McGuigan beating Don Quy Pham 6-4, 6-3.
Manlius Pebble Hill would enter the sectional Class C tournament as the no. 6 seed but then knock off no. 3 seed Morrisville-Eaton 4-1 in the quarterfinals keyed by Abe Salomon and Devan Trikha’s 6-1, 4-6, 7-5 doubles win over Leonard Friedrich and Lynden Priest as Jaasmin Zaman blanked Payton Fidura 6-0, 6-0 in singles.
Up against no. 7 seed Skaneateles in the semifinals, the Trojans, after waiting out two days of rain, beat the Lakers 3-2.
Salomon and Trikha earned the crucial point in singles, going three sets to outlast Jake Salzhauer and Kevin Torrisi 6-2, 2-6, 6-4 as Andy and Sam Lurvey handled Case Pavlus and Lucas Woodcock 6-0, 6-2. Zaman could not hold on in first singles 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 to Noah Soderberg, but Steve Gambhir won over James Lovier 7-6 (7-0), 6-0.
Even with this, MPH was overwhelmed in the final at Nottingham High School by undefeated top seed Cazenovia, who defended its title with a 4-1 win.
With a comeback, the Lurveys beat Cy Lurie and Ethan Camp 5-7, 6-4, 6-1, but Salomon and Trikha could not hold on in a 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 loss to Evan Molloy and Max Reger, with Zaman, Gambhir and Jon Howard all dropping singles matches in two sets.
