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BANGOR – Phil Burns went into Thursday’s Eastern Maine Class A tennis quarterfinal with a simple wish.
The Brewer coach just wanted the first singles match to matter.
That match, you see, would come last, as soon as a court opened up.
And his top gun is a guy named Ian Robinson. … You might have heard of him. … Sophomore. Lefty. Just won the state singles title.
How much of a sure thing would that have been? Just ask friend – and opponent – Greg Coladarci of Bangor.
“I’ve been playing against him since sixth grade, and I beat him in a tournament once,” Coladarci said with a laugh. “I know he’s just the better player, and he has shots I don’t have.”
But guess what? On Thursday, that didn’t matter.
Bangor made the match (a 6-2, 6-3 Robinson win) moot, winning the other two singles contests and the second doubles match to post a 3-2 team win.
The No. 3 Rams improved to 11-2 while No. 6 Brewer finished up 9-5. The teams had split two regular-season matchups.
By the time Robinson stepped onto the court, his Witches had dropped two matches, were even at a set apiece in another, and trailed a third. By the time he and Coladarci finished their spirited battle, the final outcome of the team battle had long been decided.
The Rams got wins from two undefeated players – Jeremy Yardley in third singles and Kyle Cutshall in second singles – and a victory from the doubles tandem of Tyson Schroder and Brett Brookings.
Coladarci said that while Brewer can depend on a win from its top player, Bangor has two similarly effective players in Cutshall and Yardley.
“Kyle and Jeremy are saving our team. They’re the core of our team,” Coladarci said. “I struggled early and am starting to come back. First doubles and second doubles have struggled and are coming back around. But [Jeremy and Kyle] are what’s gonna hold us through this tournament.”
Yardley cruised to his win, defeating Brewer soph Jesse Simko 6-0, 6-2.
Cutshall’s win was more entertaining, as he dominated early, lost his serving touch in the second set, then roared from behind to close out a 6-1, 7-6 (7-2) win over Brewer’s Chris Emery.
Cutshall trailed Emery 5-1 in the second set before rallying and clinching the Rams’ match win: When he won the final tiebreaker point, it gave Bangor a 3-0 team lead.
Cutshall said that after battling the blustery conditions for much of the second set, he finally got back on track … just in time.
“My serve was struggling,” Cutshall said. “I got more first serves in, started coming to the net, used a little serve and volley.”
Bangor coach Rick Ylagan said Cutshall stopped playing his best tennis for a bit.
“He tends to start pushing the ball and lost a little confidence,” Ylagan said. “When he’s hitting confidently, he doesn’t lose.”
Brewer’s Burns said Yardley and Cutshall adapt to different situations well, and that paid off in the blustery conditions.
“They’re [both] good players and they’ve had a lot of experience playing,” Burns said. “They get in that tough situation and they know how to switch gears.”
Brewer’s other win came from Nick Crosby and Will Prescott, the No. 1 doubles tandem, as they posted a 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 win over Bangor’s Justin Leonard and Pat Frazier.
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