BINGHAMTON – The Norwich Purple Tornado Tennis season came to a close on Friday, May 18 as Norwich’s Matt Giglio Josiah Shaver were defeated by Susquehanna Valley’s Cody Jacobs and Mason Spottek in two sets.

The Purple’s Giglio and Shaver first started playing for a spot in the tournament back on May 10 when they took third place in the Section IV tournament.

Giglio and Shaver were joined by Austin Benenati and Nathan Christopherson as the two team’s representing Norwich in the Section IV tournament.

Both Tornado pairs received a bye in the first round, advancing the teams to the quarterfinal matches.

Benenati and Christopherson faced Maine-Endwell’s Jason Bertoni and Logan Howard while Giglio and Shaver took on Owego’s Jim Grand and Evan Hamed.

Putting up a fight in the first set, Benenati and Christopherson took a hard set loss to the two from M-E, 6-4. Unable to bounce back from the first set, the two from Norwich went down in the second 6-0, ending their tournament run and their season as a pair in the quarterfinals.

Giglio and Shaver had the opposite type of match, defeating their opponent from Owego in straight sets of 6-1, 6-0.

The Norwich partners moved onto the semifinals in a match that set Giglio and Shaver up against the Maine-Endwell pairing of Bertoni and Howard, the two that knocked out their Purple Tornado teammates.

Giglio and Shaver started the match off on a strong note, taking the first set 6-2.

Keeping it close for the second set, Bertoni and Howard took the set with a score of 6-4 to force the tiebreaker third set.

As the set went back and forth, battling until the final point, Bertoni and Howard moved onto the finals match after winning the final set with a 7-6 score.

Giglio and Shaver landed in the consolation match against Maine-Endwell’s other doubles team, Bradley Cook and Spencer Terry.

Very similar to the semifinals match the two teams duked it out at the nets for three sets. This time, the win was in favor of the doubles team from Norwich.

Cook and Terry won the first set 6-2 but Giglio and Shaver rallied for the second set win, 6-3.

The tiebreaker third set went the distance, with Giglio and Shaver taking the set 7-6 and winning the match. In the set, Maine-Endwell’s Cook and Terry fought off four match points at 6-5.

“We played a very nervous first set,” said Tornado head coach John Stewart. “We then settled in with a decisive second set. The third set was a battle, going all the way but the guys pulled it out.”