From the moment it left the USTA-Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Queens last June, the Cazenovia boys tennis team has worked toward securing a third consecutive trip to the annual home of the U.S. Open.
And now it will take place, thanks to the Lakers’ undefeated run to the Division II regional championship that has secured a spot in next weekend’s New York State Public High School Athletic Association championships.
Regional play began last Saturday, at SUNY Plattsburgh, where Cazenovia met Plattsburgh High School from Section VII and worked its way to a 3-2 victory.
Unlike the regular season, which had three singles and two doubles matches, state tournament matches include two doubles and three singles, and in this format the Lakers swept the doubles from Plattsburgh.
Again together, the team of Evan Molloy and Max Reger prevailed in two sets. And while the team of Ethan Camp and Cy Lurie split up, they both won points, too, Camp combining with Gabe Reagan for one straight-set doubles win and Lurie going with Robbie Dorus for another point.
Cazenovia did drop a point in singles when Traian Cherciu lost in two sets, but with a tough three-set win Garret Lounsbury earned the fourth point and the Lakers could look ahead to the regional final Tuesday against Section II’s South Glens Falls in Schenectady.
Again, Cazenovia’s experience in big matches made a difference as it held of SGF 3-2, with all the excitement taking place in doubles after Cherciu routed Julian Oswald 6-1, 6-1 and Lounsbury rolled past Ronan Westfall 6-3, 6-3.
Molloy and Reger looked for the clinching third point but lost, 6-2, 2-6, 6-2, to Tim Mastiff and John Tallon. Camp and Reagan won the first set 6-1 from Brayon Dock and Nate DiFore, but dropped the second set 6-4 and the third set 6-2.
This left it all on Lurie and Dorus. They split the first two sets with Collin Woodell and Kerian Westfall, each of them ending 6-2, but stepped up in the final set to win 6-3 and secure another regional championship.
In between the Lakers’ Section III Class C team title and its quest for a state championship was some individual quests for top honors at the May 23-24 sectional state qualifier at Utica Parkway Courts.
From his no. 2 seed, Cherciu beat Evan Lyga (New Hartford) 6-0, 6-1 in the first round and took out Skaneateles’ Noah Soderberg 7-5, 6-0 in a rematch of the sectional Division III final earlier in the week.
A day later, in the semifinals, Cherciu had to win once to advance to the state tournament and had his chance against Fayetteville-Manlius’ Cameron Lukasik in the semifinals.
However, Lukasik prevailed, 6-3, 6-2, and in the consolation match Cherciu ran into Cortland’s Tyler Cranfield, who in three sets outlasted Cherciu 6-3, 3-6, 6-2.
Two doubles teams from Cazenovia and two doubles teams from Chittenango were also part of the state qualifier, but only one made it past the opening round.
That was Camp and Lurie, who got a 6-0, 6-2 win over Westmoreland’s Brody Faffley and Richard Ziegler, but lost in the quarterfinals to F-M’s top-seeded duo of Justin Dunn and Dan Manta 6-1, 6-0.
Back in the first round, Molloy and Max Reger took a 6-4, 6-3 defeat to Jamesville-DeWItt’s Carson Souser and Shreyank Bhatt (the eventual tournament champions), while Chittenango had Bernardo Bortovski and Cole Thomas face the no. 2 seed, Skaneateles’ brother duo of Jake and Peter Solzhauer, and lost 6-1, 6-2.
Far tougher for the Bears was seeing Vince DiNatale and Seamus Gardner lead early, then get into a third-set tie-breaker with Manlius Pebble Hill’s Andy and Sam Lurvey, only to take a 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7-5) defeat.
Next Friday at 8 a.m., the Lakers will be back in Queens, challenging Bronxville (Section I) or O’Neill (Section IX) in the state semifinals, with the winner advancing to the final later that day at 1 p.m.
