Waterville boys, Brunswick girls win tennis titles

ORONO – The second-seeded Waterville boys showed why they go ahead and play apparent championship mismatches with a 3-2 upset over top-seeded and previously unbeaten Cony of Augusta for the Eastern Maine Class A tennis title Wednesday afternoon.

In girls action, the 12-0 Brunswick Dragons won their third straight Eastern crown with a 3-2 victory over Caribou and will meet West champ Lewiston (14-0) for the third straight time in a state championship match. The 1998 meeting between the two girls tennis powers will be a rubber matmeeting between the two girls tennis powers will be a rubber match as Lewiston won the ’96 title and Brunswick won last year.

The 13-2 Waterville boys take on Edward Little of Auburn (13-2) Saturday at the University of Maine’s Bridge Courts Saturday. Both the boys and girls matches start at 11:30 a.m.

Waterville’s victory was an eye-opener on several fronts. It was the Purple Panthers’ first win over the Rams in three matches, while Dave LaMarre’s straight set win over Bostjan Kolaric was the first win over a Cony singles player all season.

LaMarre’s 6-2, 6-2 singles win was the big stunner for Cony.

“I went into it knowing we had to win all three singles to win,” said Cony coach Carolyn Neighoff. “You know when you have one of those days where nothing ever goes wrong? That’s what their singles guy did.”

“Either he was having bad days when he was playing Bostjan before, or he was having the best day of his life today. The last time we played them, they didn’t even win a set off us.”

Neighoff said the Panthers were hitting the lines all over the place. It didn’t matter whether the shots were ground strokes, lobs, or passing shots, virtually everything stayed in.

Wednesday’s Eastern Maine regional final action in Classes B and C was rained out. The Class B boys and girls matches will start today at 11 a.m. Class C is slated for a 1 p.m. start.

In the event of rain on Thursday: the matches will be moved to the Bangor Tennis courts on Mecaw Road in Hampden. The B girls match will begin at 9 a.m., the B boys at 11 a.m., the C girls at 1 p.m., and the C boys at 3 p.m.

AT UNIVERSITY OF MAINE, Orono Class A Eastern Finals

No. 2 Waterville boys (13-2) 3, No. 1 Cony (13-1) 2

Singles: Dean Turner (C) def. Kyle Ratner 6-1, 6-0; Dave LaMarre (W) def. Bostjan Kolaric 6-2, 6-2; Iain MacLeod (C) def. Conor Carpenter 6-2, 6-2; Doubles: Sean Flood-Tim Redmond (W) def. Darryll Hartman-Ollie Hartman 6-2, 7-5; Mike Donato-J.T. Trinwald (W) def. John Levesque-Chris Marshall 6-0, 6-4

No. 1 Brunswick girls (13-0) 3, No. 2 Caribou (12-1) 2

Singles: ; Doubles: Class D softball

Jonesport-Beals 14, Ashland 2

At Jonesport, Tricia Carver smacked an RBI triple in the first inning and struck out eight as the Jonesport-Beals Royals cruised past Ashland in an Eastern Maine Class D quarterfinal matchup.

The Royals will face the winner of Thursday’s Southern Aroostook-Wisdom quarterfinal in a Saturday semifinal game.

Renee Davis hit a three-run triple and three singles for a total of six RBIs for the winners. Angela Merchant hit an RBI single and Tamie Beal doubled.

For Ashland, Echo Levasseur hit two singles, driving in a run on one of her hits. Denise Dumond added an RBI single and Courtney Junkins hit a single.

Ashland (5-11) 100 100 – 2 4 4 Jonesport-Beals (16-0) 361 112 – 14 10 3

Junkins and Maker; Carver and Stewart