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LEWISTON – The much-anticipated, often-dreamed of moment had taken so long to finally arrive, it was difficult for the members of Camden Hills boys tennis team to believe it was real.
The fact it was a searing 95 degrees on the Lewiston High School courts under a blazing sun with plenty of humidity in the air might have had something to do with it, too.
“It’s kind of more like disbelief. It hasn’t really sunk in yet,” said top doubles team member Adam LaFleur, one of five seniors on the team who finally broke Western Maine power Cape Elizabeth’s magnetic hold on the Class B state championship Saturday.
The undefeated Windjammers snapped a 63-match win streak by the two-time defending state champs with a 4-1 state finals victory and won their first boys state crown since 1992.
“It feels great to finally win, especially against Cape. That’s who we really wanted to beat,” said doubles partner and fellow senior Charlie Ash. “We’ve been so close every year and we’ve been playing with pretty much the same group of guys for a long time. In a way, it’s kind of a relief as much as it’s exciting.”
In other boys state finals Saturday, the Waynflete Flyers of Portland beat Orono 4-0 for the Class C title after an approaching thunderstorm forced tourney officials to halt play in the No. 1 singles match midway through the first set. In Class A, unbeaten Lewiston won its third straight team title with a 5-0 victory over Deering of Portland.
Ash and LaFleur won the third and deciding match Saturday after battling Cape’s doubles team of Zach Rioux and Chase Dittrich along with the oppressive heat through 31 games in three sets before finally shuffling off the court with a 6-2, 6-7 (3-7 tiebreaker), 6-4 victory.
“After the second set, we changed things around a little. A lot of the game is just a mind game and momentum is such a big thing, so if you start strong in third set, you basically have it,” said Ash, who gained momentum when he and LaFleur went up 4-2 in the third. “We knew what they were thinking and when you’re down late like that, it’s tough.”
“We knew we needed to keep them back and keep them from coming to the net,” LaFleur said. “When we lobbed them over and over, they’d just wait for one to put away, so we adjusted, tried to hit out a little more and went for it.”
After losing a heartbreaking 3-2 decision to the Capers last year, the Windjammers left nothing to chance:
. Junior and top singles player Joey Michalakes defeated Garret Currier, the state singles runner-up this year, 7-6 (9-7), 2-6 and 10-6 in a shortened third set tiebreaker format both players agreed to due to the heat.
. Senior and No. 2 singles player Peter Stein defeated Greg Goldstein 6-2, 6-4 with a solid serve-and-volley attack.
. Junior No. 3 singles player Quinn Bardon took care of Will Hall 6-4, 7-5 to remain unbeaten this season in team play.
Only Cape’s undefeated doubles team of Chris Steinroeder and Brad Miklavic were able to avoid a loss, but they had to rally from a 4-6 opening-set loss and win back-to-back 6-0 sets over Trevey Davis and Colin Stone to do it.
“It broke down exactly the way I kind of expected it. I thought the big matches were third singles and first doubles,” said Cape coach Andy Caron, whose team finishes 15-1. “There was a lot of pressure in that back-and-forth first doubles and their guys had been there before.”
Experience, maturity and mental makeup – plus motivation – were the intangibles that tipped the balance in Camden Hills’ favor.
“I really feel great for our seniors,” said fourth-year coach Chris Walker-Spencer, who won two state titles as a player at Camden in 1991 and 1992. “I don’t know. It’s going to sink in eventually. I just know it feels good and I can’t get the smile off my face.”
In Class C, Waynflete’s 14-2 Flyers didn’t even drop a set en route to the impressive team match win. Only two sets were even close (7-6 with a 7-4 tiebreaker in second doubles and 7-5 in first doubles).
“I couldn’t see a weakness anyplace in Waynflete. They were excellent,” said Orono coach Dean Armstrong. “We knew they’d be tough. We lost to them three years ago, so we’ve experienced them before.”
So have others. This is Waynflete’s third state title in the last six years.
The 14-2 Red Riots should be well stocked for a possible return run next season with top singles player Nimesh Patel and No. 1 doubles players Angus Rose and Tommy Boyle all back in addition to No. 2 doubles freshman Parker Hall.
“We’ll also have our No. 2 singles player from two years ago back from Canada and three excellent freshmen to fill some holes,” said Armstrong.
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