Amherst's Binder wins fourth ECIC tennis crown
by PATRICK J. NAGY Reporter

Williamsville East's Jerome Luo lost to Amherst's Ari Binder in an ECIC singles prequarterfinal match but qualified with Matt Kweller for the Section VI doubles tournament. Photo by John Rusac Purchase color photos at www.BeeNews.com

Ari Binder felt he wasn't playing his best tennis heading into last week's ECIC Singles Tournament at Lancaster High School.

The Amherst Central senior said he had won all of his high school matches but thought he could have played better. He also thought he was struggling in recent United States Tennis Association tournaments.

So, out to prove that he still has what it takes to succeed, Binder overcame early nerves to put away Hamburg's Matt Kane, 6-4, 6-2, in the ECIC singles final on Thursday, May 17. It was Binder's fourth straight ECIC singles championship.

"It was nice to get back to my game," said Binder. "I haven't been playing as well as I should have lately, so I was out to prove to myself I could still succeed."

Kane, a sophomore at Hamburg High School, matched point for point with Binder early, leading 2-1, and broke Binder's serve at 3-2. Binder later broke Kane's serve at 5-4 and went on to win the match.

"Once I served at 5-4, I was thinking about that game (3-2)," said Binder. "I didn't want it to happen again. I got down 15-30, but I got my forehand working and I was able to win. It was a big sigh of relief and it boosted my confidence and loosened up my shot."

"He was nervous at the beginning, but he picked up his game," said Kane. "He wasn't doing anything much different."

Binder looked in top form in the second set, jumping out to a 4-0 lead. Binder ripped a forehand shot down the line to end the match.

"Ari hit the ball lower than he liked to, which gave Matt more of a chance to hit his forehand," said Amherst coach Eric Damiani. "But Ari adjusted and hit more winners in the second set."

Binder and Kane are no strangers to each other. Binder defeated Kane twice during the high school season when Amherst and Hamburg were in the same division. Both also play together at the Village Glen Tennis Club.

Binder and Kane easily advanced to the finals. Binder had a first-round bye before defeating Williamsville East's Jerome Luo 6-1, 6-0, in the prequarterfinals; Lancaster's Tony Nitkowski, 6-2, 6-2; in the quarterfinals, and Orchard Park's Clark Driscoll, 6-1, 6-2 in the semifinals.

Kane won via forfeit over Lackawanna's Eric Skarby in round 1 and beat Clarence's Ryan Clover, 6-2, 6-1, in the prequarterfinals, and Sweet Home's Ian Carr and Clarence's Jarrett Regier, 6-1, 6-1, in the quarterfinals and semifinals, respectively.

Luo beat Tonawanda's Dave O'Neil, 6-1, 6-0 in round 1.

Binder and Kane advanced to the Section VI singles championship, which began Tuesday, May 22 and continues through Friday, May 25 at Lancaster High School. Binder has lost in the sectional final the last two years.

The top five finishers from ECICs qualify for sectionals. Besides Binder and Kane, Carr, who beat Frontier's Tim Dorsheim, 6-3, 5-7, 6-0, in round 1, and Springville's Sven Mueller, 6-2, 5-7, 6-1, in the prequarterfinals, finished third. Carr defeated Williamsville East's Matt Kweller, 6-1, 6-1, and Nitkowski in three sets to take third.

Nitkowski, who defeated Carr's teammate, Ryan Barton, 7-5, 6-2, in round 1, was fourth. Mueller finished fifth.

Four other players from the Town of Amherst competed in the ECIC Singles tournament. Two won their first matches but then lost in the prequarterfinals (Amherst's Ken Schmidt defeated Cleveland Hill's Jeremiah Smith, 6-2, 6-0, lost to Driscoll, 1-6, 2-6; Williamsville South's R.J. Grampp defeated East Aurora's Will Reuter 6-2, 5-7, 6-2; lost to Nitkowski, 2-6, 2-6).

Kweller and Williamsville North's Tony Miller advanced to the quarterfinals. Kweller beat John F. Kennedy's Mike Kaminski by forfeit in round 1; defeated Depew's Joe Grzybowski, 6-2, 6-1, in the prequarterfinals; and lost 3-6, 2-6, to Driscoll and then 1-6, 1-6, to Carr. Miller beat Springville's Mitchell Steiner and Frontier's Ramsey Kasem, 6-2, 6-0, in round 1 and the prequarterfinals, respectively, before losing to Clarence's Jarrett Regier, 3-6, 6-4 and 3-6.

ECIC Doubles

The Flames are sending both of its doubles entrants to sectionals. Both lost in the semifinals. Joe Buran and Taylor Deer took third and Kweller and Luo joined forces to finish fourth.

Buran and Deer defeated Pioneer, 6-3, 6-3; Amherst's Ryan Menasco and David Greetham, 6-2, 6-4; and Jamestown, 6-1, 7-5, before falling to eventual champion Orchard Park, 1-6, 5-7. Menasco and Greetham won its round 1 match over West Seneca West's John Scioli and Brandon Nieswodony, 5-7, 6-1, 6-1.

Kweller and Luo defeated Cheektowaga's Adam Piscitello and Tyler Rudick, 6-2, 6-1; Amherst's David Scirto and Andy Taube, 6-0, 6-3; and Sweet Home's Barton and Sabooh Khan, 6-1, 6-3, before losing to Clarence's Ryan Clover and Regier, 6-4, 6-7, 3-6.

Barton and Khan beat Alden and East Aurora in the first two rounds.

Barton and Khan lost to Clarence's Mike Jurek and Sean Maloney, 1-6, 4-6, for fifth place. The Clarence duo also ended the sectional hopes for Sweet Home's other doubles team, Ian Collis and Matt Bordanaro, defeating them 6-0, 7-6 (10-8), in the prequarterfinals and Williamsville South's only entrants, Doug Bounds and Greg Potter, 0-6, 0-6, in round 1. Collis and Bordanaro defeated Lancaster, 6-2, 6-2, in round 1. South finished 6-6 in ECIC III, a five-win improvement from 1-11 last year.

Both of North's doubles entrants dropped matches in the prequarterfinals to Orchard Park. Jack Jagodzinski and Julian Rothschild defeated East Aurora's Mike Kelly and Matt O'Shea, 6-0, 6-2, in round 1 before falling to OP, 0-6, 1-6. Steve Glickman and Tony Miller beat Maryvale's Tom Micalewski and Jeremy Mongiovi, 6-0, 6-0, then lost to OP, 4-6, 3-6.

East beat South 5-0 and Sweet Home beat West Seneca East to finish 11-1 and tied for the ECIC Division II crown. Sweet Home finished 16-2 overall.

"It was a great regular season with a great record and with a group of kids who were inspired to really be the best in Western New York," said Sweet Home coach Brian Koziol. "Our wins over OP (twice) and East were really special, especially the East win, which gave us a league title."

"Ian Carr was great at ECICs, he just figures out ways to win," he added. "He can play against almost anyone, and I look forward to his chances at sectionals. The doubles matches were great battles. We're a little disappointed we couldn't qualify anyone at doubles for sectionals as well, but both teams faced great competition and have nothing but to hang their heads high on their accomplishments this year."

Team championships began on Monday, May 14. Sweet Home faced Amherst and Springville in one flight of the Gold Bracket. East (East Aurora and Orchard Park) and North (Clarence, Pioneer) are in the other Gold Brackets. South faces Lancaster and Iroquois in the Silver Bracket.

e-mail: pnagy@beenews.com