Vikings, Riots earn EM titles Mount Ararat wins ‘A’ crown

WATERVILLE – Just as they were for many years in the Class A ranks, the Caribou girls are becoming a fixture among the upper echelon of Eastern Maine Class B tennis playoff teams.

On the same bright and balmy Wednesday the Caribou Vikings won their second straight Eastern B regional title and the Orono girls won their second in four years in the Class C ranks. Neither team did it the easy way.

The top-seeded and undefeated Vikings staged two comebacks, a big one in doubles and the other in a singles match that threatened to get away, to rally past the No. 2 Mount Desert Island Trojans 3-2 in the morning session at Colby College’s Klein Tennis Pavilion.

After the middle session saw the unbeaten and top-seeded Mount Ararat girls of Topsham demolish No. 3 Brunswick 5-0, the No. 4 Red Riots continued their upset streak by pulling out two marathon singles matches for a 4-1 match win over No. 3 Penquis of Milo that began in bright late-afternoon sunshine and ended in scattered raindrops and dark skies at dusk.

The results mean the 15-0 Vikings will play for the Class A state championship Saturday in a 9:30 a.m. match at Lewiston High School. The 14-0 Mount Ararat Eagles will be in action at 12:30 p.m. and the 11-4 Riots will play for the C state crown at 3:30 p.m.

On Wednesday morning, Caribou coach John Habeeb was so emotionally wrought and nervous, he couldn’t bear to even watch the finish as his No. 1 doubles team of juniors Nikole Lopez and Suzanne Dorman battled back from an opening-set 6-3 loss and a 4-1 deficit in the second set to earn 7-5 and 6-3 wins.

“The whole time, we’re winning the match, then we’re losing the match,” Habeeb said, while wiping the sweat from his forehead. “We’re winning and then we’re losing again. I didn’t even watch them win that last point because I was superstitious.”

The top doubles team wasn’t even supposed to be that pairing as Dorman was a late substitute for a teammate who was suspended for a training rules violation.

“We’d never played together and both of us usually played the same sides on our doubles teams, so Nikole was more comfortable on the right than I was, so she switched and we had to get used to each other’s game,” Dorman said of the quick change that happened just before playoffs began.

Ironically, the point at which the two finally started clicking and getting in a great rhythm may also have been the turning point of Wednesday’s match.

“It was probably when we got behind 4-1 in the second set,” Dorman said. “When we made it 4-3, that’s when we realized we could do it.”

“I think that’s when we were finally coming together and understanding how we each play. I stayed at net and Suzanne played the baseline,” Lopez explained. “The alleys were kept open a lot, so we tried to go crosscourt as much as we could.”

The result was a 6-1 game run and set win that forced a third set.

“We took a five-minute break (after the second set), but we didn’t want it,” Lopez said. “We were ready to get back out there.”

The other key win was junior Casey Corriveau’s 6-1, 7-5 win over Caitlin Christie that made it 2-2 in the team match. Corriveau withstood a big rally in the second set and won four straight games after getting down 5-3.

“I knew I had to kick it and cut down on my errors,” said the No. 3 singles player, who was 10th on the team last year. “I think she knew my plan was to get to the net, so I changed it around a little. I just had to wait for the right time to go to the net and not be so impatient.”

Caribou’s other win was by No. 2 singles player Michelle Ouellette, who beat Kaili Irvin 6-4, 6-2.

On Wednesday afternoon, the Red Riots turned an 0-1 deficit into a 2-1 lead after both doubles teams (Katie Wagner and Jen Brown, and Kate Weatherbee and Maridawn Lamb) won in straight sets, but would have to wait another two hours along with the Patriots before either knew the team winner as both top singles player Kate Kirby and No. 3 Katie Foley went three sets before winning.

Foley, a freshman, came back from an opening-set tiebreaker loss (7-6 set and 7-4 in the tiebreaker) and won back-to-back 6-3 sets.

“I’m a swimmer and endurance is a big part of swimming so I think the thing that carried me through the second and third set was the conditioning from swimming,” said Foley. “I think if I changed anything, I wasn’t as aggressive and just waited for her to make a mistake.”

Kirby expected a marathon match and got it before winning 6-4, 5-7, 6-2.

“She beat me her sophomore year and I knew it was going to be a tough match. It was mentally tough,” she said.

The Patriots finish the season 11-4 and end it with their first-ever regional finals appearance.

“When we played them the first time, our No. 2 doubles team won and we won 3-2, but I knew that probably we’d lose the two doubles today and have to depend on the singles, and that’s the way it turned out today,” said Carey, who finishes his 11th season.