Conway avenges loss, beats Robinson Deering star wins state singles title

PORTLAND – Now that their ongoing championship duel is all tied up, fans will have to wait another year for the rubber match.

Pat Conway from Deering of Portland avenged a loss to fellow junior Ian Robinson of Brewer in last year’s Maine State Singles Tennis title match by dispatching the defending champ and making it look it easy in the process.

Conway used a variety of pinpoint returns and a highly accurate first serve to seize momentum early and maintain control of the match on a sunny and warm but windy Thursday afternoon at Waynflete High School’s athletic complex.

The Deering junior won 10 straight points during a pivotal span late in the first set and finished up by winning 11 straight games to knock Robinson off 6-2, 6-1.

“Conway just came up with the shots when he needed them,” Robinson said. “Every time I felt like I was getting momentum, he just took it away.”

Must have been something in his game plan.

“Yeah, I actually had a plan this year,” Conway said with a chuckle. “Last year I came in and didn’t really know who he was. Plus, I was nervous and tight because I felt I had to prove myself. Today I wasn’t tight at all in the match.”

The extra year of experience appeared to help Conway considerably.

“Today I felt like if I didn’t get here, it would have been a disappointment whereas last year I just wanted to win that first match and live up to my ranking,” he explained.

The gusty wind appeared to affect Robinson more than it did Conway as Conway was able to get about 80 percent of his first serves in.

“I play practically all my matches outside,” he said. “I’m used to it because I’ve played on windy courts since I started learning to play.”

After breaking Conway’s serve in the second and holding serve in the third game for a 2-1 lead in the first set, Robinson seemed in good shape, but that would be the only time he held serve all afternoon.

“It’s hard to blast a serve into the wind when you can’t really get a good toss in it,” Robinson said.

Conway planned to attack the net and force the issue, but the wind kept him back at the baseline more than he hoped. So he simply tried to keep Robinson deep.

“I think at a certain point, because of the wind, he was starting to make some unforced errors and I just kept on trying to hit the spots,” said Conway, who also frustrated Robinson with several passing shots that always seemed to be at least two feet out of Robinson’s reach.

“I was just feeling the passing shot a lot for some reason in both matches,” said the Rams junior. “It was working really well for me today.”

In the semifinal round earlier in the afternoon, Conway eliminated Ellsworth’s Noah John 6-1, 6-0 by coming to the net regularly and using a serve-and-volley attack to nullify John’s passing shots game. Robinson had a bit more trouble getting by Foxcroft Academy exchange student Manuel Blanc, but still managed to take the native of Barcelona, Spain in straight sets: 6-3, 7-5.

“My first match, I came out and got through it, but I didn’t really play that well,” Robinson said. “The second one, I felt like I was hitting the ball against the wind all the time and Conway came out smoking.”

Robinson said Thursday’s matches were another lesson in how tough it is not only to get back to the state finals, but to repeat as a champion.

“”There’s no guarantee you’re going to even be back here, let alone win again,” Robinson said.

Still, he and Conway know they are the favorites to hook up again for the tiebreaker next year.

“That would be cool to play again, but it’s a long way back here,” Conway said.