Bapst boys, Belfast girls win prelims Dunn keys Crusaders and Tarpley clinches victory for Lions; Ellsworth next

VEAZIE – It didn’t look like much, if any, tennis would be played early Tuesday afternoon as ominous skies over the courts at the Veazie Community School complex looked like they’d soon gush forth a torrent of rain.

That wasn’t the case, however, as the abundant dark clouds gave way to bright sun, the wind died down, and temperatures warmed.

Just more than 61/2 hours after they started, John Bapst coach Ryan Hews wished the rains had come after the boys portion of Tuesday’s boy-girl doubleheader concluded.

That’s because his No. 8 Crusader boys defeated No. 9 Houlton 4-1, but his ninth-ranked girls were edged 3-2 in a marathon, 41/2-hour match by No. 8 Belfast.

The prize for the two winning teams? An all expenses-paid trip to Ellsworth Thursday to take on the top-seeded and unbeaten Eagles’ boys and girls in the quarterfinals.

Belfast’s girls could barely contain themselves as top singles player Sarah Tarpley clinched the match for the Lions with a 6-1, 6-3 win over Bapst’s Megan Gekeler.

“This is great because our goal is to make it to the second round, which we’ve only done once before,” Tarpley said. “It’s great we can do this my senior year too.”

It’s also great, considering the Lions finally achieved varsity sport status at Belfast after seven seasons as a club team.

“I don’t think we get very much support in Belfast,” said Sigrid Coffin. “This is the first time we’ve been a varsity team so hopefully this shows something to our town.”

Coffin and first doubles teammate Laura Sproch showed their team something Tuesday with another of their patented, come-from-behind, nail-biter victories.

“They’ve done this to me all year,” said coach John Cameron, whose Lions are now 6-7. “They’ve given me all of my gray hairs.”

Coffin and Sproch won the first set 6-4, but lost to Eva Murdock and Priscilla Batista 6-7 in the second following a 2-7 tiebreaker. Murdock and Batista surged all the way to a 5-4 lead and a triple match point serve, but Belfast’s dramatic duo won the next three points, then the game, and finally the match (7-6) via a 7-1 tiebreaker.

“It’s not really intentional,” said Sproch with a grin. “It’s just we play and then we let them win a couple and then we’ll win some more, and usually we pull through, but it’s usually pretty exciting.”

The other key match was third singles, where Belfast’s Sarah Lane beat Tracy McKay 7-5, 6-3. The 7-6 Crusaders got wins from Jessica Wakeling (6-4, 6-3 over Desneige Hallbert) and doubles players Kate Ostrofsky and Rachel Stone, who downed Jenny Cameron and Lauren Philbrook 6-7 (5-7), 6-4, 7-6 (7-3).

In the boys match, top singles player Brian Dunn helped lead 6-7 Bapst to victory despite a bum shoulder on his serving arm.

Dunn gave the Crusaders the all-important third match win with a 6-4, 6-3 victory over Sean Higgins, who he had made short work of earlier in the season.

“I played him once before and that may have hurt me because I thought I’d be able to beat him easily, but my arm was hurting and it wasn’t a good situation,” said Dunn, who stained a muscle during a workout over the weekend.

After matching each other game for game early on, Dunn won two straight to win the first set and used a couple of service breaks to take the second. He said it was a good thing he avoided a third set.

“I couldn’t get any power with my right shoulder,” he explained. “I had to short-arm everything.

As big as Dunn’s win was, it was the doubles teams that turned in the crucial performances.

“Our [boys] doubles teams have struggled, especially the number two team, but they looked like they gained a lot of confidence today, and that’s huge for us,” Hews said.

That No. 2 doubles team of senior Ned Payne and junior Taylor Lynn, known more for exploits on basketball courts and hockey rinks, respectively, certainly played like they’d been together for more than one season.

“I think our communication and confidence was better today than it’s ever been,” Lynn said.

Lynn and Payne beat Andrew Drake and David Lewis 6-4, 6-3 to give Bapst its first win of the day.

“I think today was pretty much the first day we’ve really played together,” said Payne. “Before it’s been like two teams playing singles. Right now it’s really coming together for us.”

Bapst No. 3 singles player Wes Day downed Michael Sussman 6-3, 6-3, but Houlton’s No. 2 man Daniel Sussman stemmed the tide by shaking off a 7-0 loss in a first set tiebreaker and coming back to win the next two sets 6-3 and 6-0.