GSA, Waterville, Lewiston win EM crowns Eagles tip Owls, capture first title

WATERVILLE – On a day when Waterville and Lewiston were winning second straight regional titles, the girls from George Stevens Academy in Blue Hill finally came away with their first.

It was three years in the making, but top-seeded GSA won its first Eastern Maine Class C team tennis title since 2001 with a suspenseful 3-2 decision over No. 2 Madawaska.

“We got to semifinals and lost to Orono my sophomore year and the finals, where we lost to Orono, last year, so it’s a great feeling to win this,” said senior No. 2 singles player Winslow Brokaw. “We’ve worked so hard to get this far.”

In other classes, Waterville beat Camden Hills 4-1 to win the Class B regional crown and No. 1 Lewiston edged No. 3 Brunswick 3-2 for the A title at Colby College Wednesday.

Waterville advances to the state B final at 9:15 a.m. Saturday, Lewiston will play for the state A title at 12:45 p.m., and GSA will play at 4:15 p.m. All three matches are at Lewiston High School.

It looked like a GSA runaway after senior Morgan Springer and junior Hillary Lawsing beat Audrey Bergeron and Megan Hebert 6-2, 6-1. The Eagles’ top doubles duo hasn’t lost a match since 2005. Shortly after that match ended, Brokaw extended her unbeaten streak this season to 14 matches with a 6-1, 6-2 win over Amanda Plourde.

Then came the long wait.

“At that point, it was still anyone’s match,” said Owls coach Dean Gendreau. “It didn’t work out for us, but our girls battled all afternoon.”

The Eagles’ clinching match win finally came a little over an hour later from sophomore second doubles team Roz Brokaw and Katie Herklotz, who were only playing their fifth match together this season.

“There was a point where I thought our third singles won and we were already going to states, but then I found out different, so I realized we had to pick things up,” said Herklotz.

“That was a big comeback, and it was after the first loss they’ve had this year,” GSA coach Jim Farrar said. “That team from Madawaska is the best second doubles we’ve played all year long.”

Madawaska’s other singles players didn’t let up after the clinching win and pulled out marathon matches. Susan Lavertu outlasted Brittany Olivari 6-1, 6-7 (5-7), 7-5 and No. 3 Nicole Daigle downed Annika Treyball 4-6, 7-5, 7-5.

The Class B match looked like a tough call coming in, even though 14-1 Waterville beat 12-3 Camden Hills both times in the regular season. Both were 3-2 wins, but CH managed to turn the tables on the Purple Panthers in the Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference title match and win 3-2.

Fortunately for Waterville coach Donna Nale, her girls didn’t know how nerved up they were supposed to be in the regional title rematch.

“When we got to the end of the regular season with just one loss, they were all kind of just saying ‘OK, now what’s next?'” Nale recalled. “Then when we got into quarterfinals and I said I really wanted this season to continue, one of the girls said ‘Oh, you mean if you lose, you don’t play anymore?’ I told them that was probably the best way to approach it from here.”

That casual, relaxed approach served Waterville well again Wednesday. Rather than panic or tighten up after No. 1 singles player Erika Blauth of Camden Hills beat freshman Jen Nale 6-0, 6-0, the Panthers shook it off and kept playing.

The rest of the morning’s matches were straight-set victories, but all four by the Panthers. Waterville evened things up as top doubles team Dana Merkwynn and Katie Jacobs beat the Windjammers’ Lexi Armstrong and Kerry Gross 6-0 in the first set and then overcame a spirited ‘Jammers comeback in the second to post a 7-6 victory after winning the tiebreaker 9-7.

“Their doubles were a bit more competitive than ours this time and that really made the difference because if we get just one doubles win, it can really turn the tables,” said CH coach Karen Brace.

It seemed to fire up the Panthers. Third singles player Katherine Batten responded by defeating Camden Hills’ Maggie Cummons 6-2, 6-3 and the second doubles duo of Kelsie Stevens and Libby Mazeo took out junior Amanda Kava and senior Julia Aroneau 6-4, 6-2 to clinch the team match and a second straight regional crown.

Speaking of crowns, Batten wore a tiara just above her visor during her match.

“A senior on the team wasn’t here today since it was her class trip,” Batten explained. “She told me early this season she’d give me the tiara for prom, and I said if we made Eastern finals, I’d wear it.

“Since I usually wear a visor playing tennis anyway, I didn’t even notice it was on.”

Batten is one of five new faces on the team this year. No. 2 singles player Alex McAulift, who played first doubles last year, is one of the “veterans.”

“We didn’t really expect anything, so every win was another great surprise,” said McAulift, who beat Sarah Albertson 6-1, 7-5 to close things out. “We had nothing to lose, really, so I don’t think we felt pressure.”

Donna Nale won’t have to worry about more wholesale changes next year because none of her players are seniors. Nale is a freshman; McAulift, Batten, Jacobs, Stevens and Mazeo are all sophomores; and Merkwynn is a junior.

In Class A, the Lewiston Blue Devils remained unbeaten at 14-0 and won their second straight regional title. Top singles player Chantalle Lavertu won 6-0, 6-0 and then watched both doubles teams clinch it. The deciding match was a 6-3, 5-7, 6-2 win by No. 2 duo Audrey Bergeron and Emily Parent.