Schenck claims crown Eagles, Dragons remain unbeaten

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ORONO – Vindication, repetition, and jubilation.

Those were the appropriate words to sum up the day’s themes as Ellsworth, Brunswick, and Schenck of East Millinocket won Eastern Maine boys team tennis titles in Classes B, A, and C, respectively, Wednesday at the University of Maine’s Chester Bridge Tennis complex.

The unbeaten and top-seeded Ellsworth boys remained that way by following up a 3-2 loss in last year’s State Team Tennis regional final with a 3-2 win over No. 2 Camden Hills this time around.

In A, the 16-0 Brunswick Dragons changed coaches, but not end results as they won their second straight regional crown with a 5-0 win over third seed Bangor.

In C, 11-2 Schenck turned in the most dramatic effort of the day, dropping the first two matches before pulling out the last three – all in three sets – to beat 10-5 Madawaska and win its first-ever tennis title.

All three teams return to action Saturday, this time at Deering Oaks Park in Portland. Ellsworth takes on Greely of Cumberland Center for the “B” title at 9 a.m., Brunswick will have a Class A rematch with Deering of Portland at 11:30 a.m., and Schenck meets Winthrop in the “C” match at 2 p.m.

Class B – Things were much different for Ellsworth’s Adam Smith a year ago. He was the only one left on the courts after his Eagles split the first four sets with Mount Desert Island. With all eyes on him, he lost a three-set heartbreaker to end the season.

“I didn’t want to do what I did last year because when we played MDI, I was the deciding match and I lost in three sets. I didn’t want to have to do that again,” said Smith.

Wednesday offered a shot at redemption for the Eagles junior and he didn’t pass it up. He stormed through his first set to win 6-2 and took a 5-3 lead in the second. Camden’s Ben Knowlton held serve in the next game, but Smith did the same to close things out 6-4 and give the Eagles a 3-1 lead.

“I’m glad I don’t have that monkey on my back anymore,” he said.

Smith wasn’t the only one drawing upon last year’s disappointment as the Eagles won their third Eastern crown overall.

“They’ve been talking about that match all year. You have to play at that top level to experience what you have to do,” said Ellsworth coach Brian Higgins. “I think they were pretty focused today.”

Higgins credited the doubles team of Brian Bohm and Bobby Archer in particular, as they won the first set 6-2 and then struggled a bit early on in the second before taking it 6-3.

“I was so nervous last year, but I was a lot more settled in at the start today,” Archer said. “Last year, it probably took me three or four games to settle in. I was too nerved up to function that well.”

Ellsworth’s other win came from top singles player Noah John, who beat Avery Ash 6-0, 6-4. The Eagles sophomore also found plenty of motivation from the MDI match.

“We had a lot of experienced players back and after seeing it once and making it this far, you want to take it a step further the following year,” said John. “There’s a different feeling on the team this year. At least in my eyes, this is our best chance to win a state title in my four years.”

Camden got wins from Matt Spencer – 7-6 (7-5), 7-6 (7-5) over Homer Pare – and doubles duo Jurik Zdenek and Julian King – 6-2, 6-3 over Chris Ross-Casey Lock.

“We haven’t been this far in five years and teams that are there year after year have a slight edge over ones who haven’t,” said coach David Cook, whose exclusively senior-laden Windjammers finish up 14-1. “I don’t know how much of a factor it was, but it probably helped them.”

CLASS C – Bleak may have been too soft a term to describe Schenck’s prospects for a win after No. 4 Madawaska won the first two singles matches plus the opening set of the No. 3 singles and No. 2 doubles matches.

“We didn’t even want to think about it,” said No. 2 doubles player Ben Jamo. “Mike [Rossignol] and I just said, ‘OK, I guess we just can’t lose anymore.’ ”

Jamo and Rossignol took that attitude into the third set after winning the first 6-3 and losing the second 6-4. The result was a 6-4 win that helped lift the flagging spirits of their teammates on the court.

Those same spirits stared soaring after No. 3 singles player A.J. Gagnon staged a big comeback and knocked off Mark Ayotte 2-6, 6-3, 6-1, leaving it all up to the No. 2 doubles players.

Freshman Tyler Thompson and junior Seth Johnston turned in another great escape. After losing the opening set 3-6, they rallied for consecutive 6-4 wins to bring their Wolverines back from the dead.

“This is without a doubt the greatest comeback we’ve had this year,” said first-year coach Rick Davis, who dyed his hair blonde to settle a bet he made with his boys if they made the finals. “They’ve just gotten better and better as the year’s gone on and it’s a lot of fun to be part of this.”

CLASS A – Depth and experience were the difference once again for the Dragons.

Brunswick swept the 12-3 Rams, but Bangor coach Rick Ylagan pointed to one particular area his team needs to make up ground.

“It’s the doubles. We’re deep, especially for our area, but their doubles are stronger individually,” he said. “Three of our four doubles players are first-year varsity guys while they execute better and they make less mistakes.”

It was a successful homecoming of sorts for rookie coach Andrew Hopkins-Lisle, who played for Higgins before graduating from Ellsworth in 1988.

“This gets me fired up. I’ve definitely got the competitive juices flowing again being a part of this team’s success,” said Hopkins-Lisle, who came back to Maine after two years in Arizona.