Maine Endwell Spoils Norwich's March To Finals, Despite Norwich Revenge On Oneonta And Windsor
Published: May 18th, 2016
By: Cameron Turner

Frank Speziale Photo

ONEONTA –The Norwich varsity tennis squad packed their bags and headed to Oneonta this past Thursday and Friday for the two-day Section IV Class B Tournament on May 12 and 13.

Ultimately falling short of a championship in both team and individual play, Norwich did perform well in the two day tournament, earning enough team points for a tie for the fourth place spot as a team with division rival Oneonta, each notching 17-points.

The Norwich post-season team consisted of Carlos Ithier at first singles, and Joel Fazio at second singles. While on the doubles side it was Jamison Luke and Cameron Edwards at first doubles with the duo of Austin Benenati and Zayn Harper at second doubles.

With a total of eight teams entering the tournament and each entering two doubles as well as two singles, the bracket was at full capacity causing no one to receive a bye in the first round.

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Maine Endwell would pull away from the rest of the pack in terms of team and individual achievements, scoring 50 team points for the win and seeing an individual championship in both singles and doubles play.

Norwich advanced three of their four entrants past the first round, something Norwich head coach John Stewart emphasized as a main contributing reason for earning a fourth place finish as a team.

Singles

Carlos Ithier would enjoy early success at first singles in the tournament when he stepped on the court on the first day to defeat Nate Hacker of Johnson City in straight sets at 6-1 and 6-0.

“Carlos took out a weaker Johnson City kid, we kind of expected that,” said Stewart.

Advancing to the quarterfinals Ithier would face a much stiffer challenge from Oneonta's Chris Catan. Catan would down Ithier in two sets, beating him at 6-1 and 6-1. Catan would go on to lose to Maine Endwell in the semi-finals before bouncing back for a third place finish.

At second singles Joel Fazio was faced with his toughest challenge to date, when he was drawn in to face the number two seed from Windsor Jared Mirch. Despite some battle from Fazio, Mirch would earn the win over Fazio in the first round, winning 6-1 and 6-1. Mirch would go on to lose in the semi-finals and ultimately come up short to Catan for a fourth place finish in the consolation round.