Ellsworth tennis teams eager for nationals in Puerto Rico

The Underdogs didn’t have the most notable of beginnings on the Maine tennis mixed doubles scene. The first season the team competed together, in fact, the group didn’t win a team match.

The injured Ellsworth Lobsters weren’t expecting great things from themselves when they went to last June’s New England mixed doubles sectional in Portland.

But the Underdogs improved over the last two seasons and the injury-plagued Lobsters persevered through their tournament, and both gained a berth in the National Eastern Mixed Doubles championship in Puerto Rico.

The Underdogs and the Lobsters are both based at the relatively tiny Ellsworth Tennis Center. They beat teams from much larger clubs in Greater Boston, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and Connecticut during the tournament in Portland in order to qualify for nationals.

“It’s pretty amazing,” said Ellsworth resident Drew Myers, the Underdogs’ team captain.

The Underdogs are in the 7.0 level tournament, while the Lobsters, captained by Anne Dentino of Sedgwick, are in the 6.0 group. The U.S. Tennis Association, which runs the national championships, ranks players based on their skill level. Individuals are ranked on a scale from 2.5 (lowest skill level) to 7.0, while mixed doubles are on a scale of 6.0 to 10.0.

The pool play-style tournament starts Friday in two locations in San Juan. The finals will be held Sunday.

Both teams first won the Northern Maine regional tournaments at their respective levels in order to advance to the sectional.

Myers formed the Underdogs so that he could play tennis with his wife, Jen Myers, who recently picked up the sport. They added other players but didn’t win a team match in the fall 2004 season. They managed one win in the winter of 2004-05.

But things looked up in the fall 2005 season and the Underdogs cruised through the New England sectional.

“It was unbelievable,” said Drew Myers, who teaches at Ellsworth High and is an assistant varsity boys soccer coach there. Jen Myers is the head girls soccer coach at Ellsworth High and teaches at Ellsworth Middle School.

“We qualified for sectionals and we thought it would a good experience for us to go,” Drew Myers added. “It was our first time there, but we just kept winning.”

The Lobsters battled through a variety of injuries to make it to the national tournament. When the Lobsters went to the New England sectional, one player had an Achilles’ tendon injury, another had eye surgery, a third suffered an elbow problem, and another player had conjunctivitis.

“When we got to the New England championships, we had so many injuries we thought it was going to be a joke,” said Dentino, who works part time at the Ellsworth Tennis Center and part time in a store in Blue Hill. “But we managed to dig in and win. It was just a very positive experience.”

Most of the players have full-time jobs that make it hard to find time to practice. The Myers, for example, both coach soccer in the fall and have a 9-year-old daughter, Mackenzie.

“I think we’ve been on the court maybe six times [since the June tournament],” Drew Myers said. “We try to get out, but it’s hard.”

It’s likely tough for most of the Underdogs and Lobsters to find time to practice. Several other team members are also teachers or in education – Underdog Mike Hammer is the Hancock Grammar School principal – and there are lawyers, business owners, and a tax assessor.

But when it comes to competing in the national tournament, they’ve found the time. The Myers are combining the Puerto Rico trip with a Thanksgiving side trip to visit Drew Myers’ brother, who lives on a boat in the Caribbean.

The lure of Puerto Rico in the middle of a Maine November was strong for Dentino, too.

“We really lucked out,” she said. “I looked to see where it was a year ago and it was like a pipe dream. But it came true.”The rest of the Lobsters are Dennis Kiley, Jeffrey Gammelin, Peter Johnson, Sarah Maxwell, Allan Schuman, Candace Gammelin, and Melissa Hale.

The rest of the Underdogs roster includes Julie Hammer, Brenda Shelton, Mike Hammer, John Brushwein, Corinna Domagala, Tajuddin Mohammed, and Steven Shelton.