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Berkshire League boys tennis takes shape, sets championships for May 26

Berkshire League boys tennis takes shape, sets championships for May 26

Gustavo Portillo serves

Riley Klein

LAKEVILLE – Berkshire League boys tennis players gathered at The Hotchkiss School Tuesday, May 19, for the opening rounds of the postseason tournament.

The event featured three separate brackets: varsity singles, varsity doubles and junior varsity doubles. Matches began early in the morning and continued until about 2 p.m. with the temperature cranked up to 90 degrees.

Housatonic Valley Regional High School coach Jeff Tripp remarked, "It was a hot day, but with an early 8 a.m. start the tournament moved at a good pace with excellent play all around."

The JV doubles tournament concluded with a final match of two teams from Nonnewaug High School. The championship-winning pair was Jorni Kuqi and Roman Criscione.

The final varsity matches will be played at Thomaston's Nystrom Park Tuesday, May 26, at 1 p.m.

In the doubles championship, Northwestern Regional High School teammates Lincoln Ouellette and Merrick Bannerman will take on Shepaug Valley High School's duo of Liam Denning and Gabe Tammarro.

The two remaining varsity doubles teams were named Berkshire League all stars.

In the singles bracket, the tournament will continue May 26 with the semifinal round.

Nonnewaug High School's Luke Primini will play David Block from Shepaug. On the other side, Lakeview High School's Luca D'Urso will play Shepaug's Ben Churyk.

The two remaining players from Shepaug, Churyk and Block, did not drop a game in their tournament matches on May 19. Primini, of Nonnewaug, lost just one game. D'Urso emerged from a back-and-forth battle (6-2, 2-6, 10-8) against Northwestern's Braiden Kennedy in the quarterfinal round.

All four players remaining in the singles tournament were named BL all stars. Other all stars for the season included Kennedy, Gustavo Portillo (Housatonic), Luca Inglese (Shepaug) and Jameson McTamney (Lakeview).

Shepaug doubles playerRiley Klein

Jackson Bates backhand returnRiley Klein

Riley Klein

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