CENTRAL NEW YORK – Already with an undefeated regular season, a Section III Class C team title and a berth in the state Division II tournament secured, the Cazenovia boys tennis team went for more – and got it.
Traian Cherciu blazed his way to the singles championship in the sectional Division III tournament, while two Lakers doubles teams would also earn berths in the state qualifier to take place later this week.
Entering as the top seed, Cherciu blanked Tucker Guerrina (Marcellus) 6-0, 6-0 in his opening match, followed by a quarterfinal where he turned back Skaneateles’ James Lovier 6-2, 6-0, this after Lovier had defeated Gabe Reagan in straight sets.
The semifinal was another 6-0, 6-0 shutout, Cherciu handling Holland Patent’s Jeff Dewar, setting up a final with Westhill’s Shay Smyth. A close first set proved the key, Cherciu taking it 7-5 and going on to roll through the second set 6-2 to win it.
Garret Lounsbury wanted to join Cherciu at the state qualifier, handling Cooper Graham (Phoenix) 6-0, 6-1 in his round-of-16 match but then losing a three-set quarterfinal to Dewar 7-5, 3-6, 6-3.
Meanwhile, in doubles the teams of Evan Molloy-Max Reger and Ethan Camp-Cy Lurie also earned berths in the state qualifier, with Molloy and Reger making it all the way to the Division III final.
Molloy and Reger, from the no. 2 seed, won each of its first three matches in two sets, not dropping a set as, in the semifinals, they beat Ryan Mitchell and Lincoln Pelc (Vernon-Verona-Sherrill) 6-2, 6-2.
Camp and Lurie also won their first two matches in straight sets from a no. 4 seed, then challenged the Skaneateles duo of Jake and Peter Salzhauer in the semifinals, only to get beat 6-2, 6-1.
Now the Salzhauers faced Molloy and Reger, and both sets would prove close – but it was the Skaneateles duo emerging with a 7-5, 7-5 victory.
Over in Division II, Chittenango had a successful tournament, getting two of its doubles teams to the state qualifier.
Vince DiNatale and Seamus Gardner were the no. 2 seed and, in a tense opening-round match, got past Jamesville-DeWitt’s Jacob Price and Furqan Hasan 6-1, 4-6, 6-1, then beat Adam Gutowski and Owen LaShure (Whitesboro) 6-4, 6-4 in the quarterfinals.
As the no. 5 seed, Bernardo Bortovski and Cole Thomas had an easier time of it in the early rounds, winning 6-0, 6-1 over Whitesboro’s EdinHadzimujic and Noah Dow before a 6-4, 6-0 quarterfinal win over New Hartford’s Abraham Khan and Ohm Patel.
Both sides would get beat in the semifinals by teams from J-D as Bortovski and Thomas fell 6-0, 6-1 to Carson Souser and Shreyank Bhatt, while DiNatale and Gardner lost to Dean Bratslavsky and Kian Sarmast 6-1, 6-0.
In singles play, the Bears’ Logan Bronner had a round-of-16 defeat to Clinton’s Rafferty Pitman 7-6 (7-4), 6-0, while Seth Boulter fell to J-D’s Will Sharlow 7-5, 6-1 and Noah Edwards had a first-round defeat, 10-6, to Clinton’s Isaiah Beauchamp.
