Boys tennis
Sweet Home, East in tie for ECIC Division II crown

Sweet Home's Ian Carr returns a serve against Williamsville East's Matt Kweller during the Panthers' 3-2 road win on Monday, May 7. Both teams were tied for the lead in ECIC Division II before The Bee went to press. Photo by Joe Eberle Purchase color photos at www.BeeNews.com

Sweet Home's 3-2 victory at Williamsville East on Monday, May 7 created a two-way tie between the schools for the ECIC Division II crown. Both teams are 10-1 heading into matches on Monday, May 14. Sweet Home is 15-2 overall.

East played Sweet Home tough despite not having three regular starters in the lineup. East's Matt Kweller won his match at first singles over Sweet Home's Ian Carr, 6-3, 6-1. Carr won the first meeting, 6-1, 6-2. East's Andrew Legaretta filled in at second singles and lost 5-7, 4-6 to Sweet Home's Ryan Barton. Sweet Home's Sabooh Khan won at third singles.

East's Joe Buran and Taylor Deer defeated Sweet Home's Ian Collis and Matt Bordonaro, 6-2, 7-5, to tie the match at 2-2, but the Panthers' Dan Kaminski and Tarun Kakumanu won 7-6, 2-6, 6-2 at second doubles.

Williamsville East's Matt Kweller reaches for a return from Sweet Home's Ian Carr. Kweller is 8-3 this season and will appear in the ECIC Singles Tournament this week at Lancaster High School. Photo by Joe Eberle Purchase color photos at www.BeeNews.com

"I was very proud of the effort from our team considering how short-handed we were for that match," said East coach Randy Ball. "The team showed a lot of heart, almost pulling the match out."

"East is always so tough so I was definitely pleased with the result," added Sweet Home coach Brian Koziol. "Our second doubles this time came through with a win that avoided us the first time we played them."

Sweet Home also won its other matches last week, winning 4-3 under the lights at Orchard Park on Tuesday, May 8, 5-0, over Iroquois on Wednesday, May 9 and 4-1 and 5-0 against Lake Shore on Friday, May 11.

Against OP, Barton won a 2½-hour match in a third-set tiebreaker at second singles, Kakumanu won at fourth singles in three sets, Kaminski and Furqan Hassan won at second doubles, and Matt Sommer and Zach Crittenden won in three sets at third doubles.

Koziol thought the intensity level from playing at night is something you can't duplicate in the afternoon.

Carr and Barton have qualified for the ECIC Singles Tournament, to be held Tuesday, May 15 and Wednesday, May 16 at Lancaster High School. Both qualified last year. Ian Collis and Matt Bordonaro are playing in the ECIC doubles competition on Thursday, May 17 and Friday, May 18, also at Lancaster.

Ball is sending Kweller (8-3) and Jerome Luo (8-0) to ECICs. Both might play in the doubles tournament. Buran and Deer have gone undefeated all year at first doubles and will be at ECICs.

Senior Mike Metzger has done a nice job at third singles and for filling in at second singles for a few matches, Ball added. Legaretta has been a pleasant surprise, picking up many varsity points for the team at third singles and filling in at doubles.