CENTRAL NEW YORK – Area high school boys tennis players spread out to multiple venues early last week and, battling opponents and the heat, vied for spots in the Section III state qualfying tournament later in the week.
And no one would do better than the Skaneateles duo of Jake and Peter Salzhauer, who emerged as the sectional Division III doubles champions.
An opening-round 6-0, 6-1 win over Sam Pritting and Liam Zalewski (Phoenix) put the Salzhauers in the quarterfinal against their own teammates, Case Pavlus and Lucas Woodcock, a match that the Salzhauers won 6-1, 6-0.
Moving to the semifinals, the Salzhauers rolled past Cazenovia’s Ethan Camp and Cy Lurie 6-2, 6-1 and completed their run when they knocked off another Cazenovia side, Evan Molloy and Max Reger, in a tough championship match 7-5, 7-5.
Otherwise, the best local showing came from the Marcellus team of Will Louer and Liam Lundrigan, who from a no. 11 seed beat Holland Patent’s Tyler Tydseley and Nick Sheets 6-4, 6-3 before a quarterfinal where they lost to Vernon-Verona-Sherrill’s Lincoln Pelc and Ryan Mitchell 6-2, 6-3.
Two area singles players would also lock up berths in the state qualifier – and end up facing each other in the semifinal round.
Westhill’s Shay Smyth was the no. 2 seed. He beat Marcellus’ Mike Devereaux 6-1, 6-0 in his opening match and, in the quarterfinals, shut out Oneida’s Anden Mertens 6-0, 6-0.
As that went on, Skaneateles standout Noah Soderberg worked from a no. 3 seed, beating Kenneth Relyea (Clinton) 6-2, 6-0 before a 6-3, 6-2 quarterfinal romp over Mertens’ Oneida teammate, Ryan Lusher.
In the semifinal showdown, Smyth got through a first-set tiebreak and a tough second set to beat Soderberg 7-6 (7-5), 6-4, reaching the finals, where Cazenovia’s Traian Cherciu handed Smyth a 7-5, 6-2 defeat.
Elsewhere in singles, Skaneateles’ James Lovier blanked Cazenovia’s Gabe Reagan 6-0, 6-0 in the round of 16 before a 6-2, 6-0 defeat to Cherciu. Westhill’s Jackson Flegel fell to Lusher 6-3, 6-2 in the round of 16, while Marcellus had Tucker Guerrina lose to Cherciu 6-0, 6-0 as the Lakers’ Kevin Torrisi and Warriors’ Zane Eldred had opening-round defeats.
West Genesee had just one team in Division I doubles, as Dan Alvaro and Joe Paoli had the no. 7 seed, but could not get past an opening-round match against the no. 26 seed, Liverpool’s Dan Haynes and John Ioannidis, who prevailed 10-7.
