Lewiston claims tennis titles Western Maine teams nab B, C championships

PORTLAND – Lewiston made it a clean sweep of Class A, and Western Maine swept up the titles in the other two classifications Saturday at the state team tennis championships at The Racket and Fitness Center.

The Lewiston girls served notice they may be another dynasty with a second straight state title while the boys cemented their status as one with their fifth straight in Class A. Coach Anita Murphy’s girls defeated McAuley of Portland 4-1 while Coach Ron Chicoine’s boys handled Westbrook 4-1. Both teams capped 15-0 seasons.

Class B saw former tennis dynasty Cape Elizabeth win its first girls state crown since 2000 with a commanding 5-0 victory over Waterville, while the Falmouth boys won their second straight title 4-1 in a rematch of the 2006 state final with Mount Desert Island.

The boys from George Stevens Academy in Blue Hill made things dramatic in Class C, but fell a couple games short of winning their second state title in four years as North Yarmouth Academy won 3-2 on the strength of a comeback victory by No. 2 singles player Calvin Chicoine. The NYA girls also collected a state title as they cruised by GSA 5-0.

In Class C, the boys match came down to the second singles match between GSA’s Julian Davis and NYA’s Cal Chicoine.

Davis won the first set 7-6 by virtue of a 7-4 tiebreaker, but Chicoine stormed back to take the second 6-2. Davis took a 3-2 lead despite getting broken on one of his serves in the third set, but Chicoine held serve to tie it and then broke Davis again to go up 4-3 and then 5-3. Davis held to make it 5-4, but then Chicoine served the set out to give NYA an insurmountable 3-1 lead.

Top GSA singles player Cooper Mor then took out Alex Champoux 6-4, 6-1, in the final match.

The Panthers capped a 13-3 season.

The Eagles’ No. 2 doubles team of Elias Springer and Dan Fiveland started things off with a 6-1, 6-4 win.

Davis was victimized by several unforced errors around the net. He moved Chicoine around adeptly and had several chances to put points away, but hit several drop or crosscourt shots into the net or wide.

“I noticed he started tiring out a bit, so I just tried to keep it deep and move him side to side, and hit it to him when he came to the net,” said Chicoine.

The third singles was another key match as NYA’s Will Eberle edged Austin Dobson 7-6 (7-5) and 6-4.

“Their second and third singles players were very consistent and they didn’t commit many unforced errors. I think that was the difference,” said GSA coach Mark Hurvitt, whose 15-1 Eagles had won five 3-2 matches this year.

There was a far greater difference in the girls match as coach Lorena Coffin’s 13-3 Panthers won every match in straight sets.

“They were just steady right through the lineup,” said GSA girls coach Tim Farrar. “Their serves, particularly in doubles, were good. I was a little surprised they didn’t come to the net as much as we did.

“They were also more consistent in their overall play, but the difference was the quality of their ground strokes and second serves.”

In Class B, the Western Maine champs were just too much for Eastern Maine as only one match out of 10 went more than two sets. It was also the only match won by the East.

That honor went to the MDI No. 2 doubles team of juniors Ian Campbell and George Loftus, who had to come all the way back from a 6-7 first-set tiebreaker loss (1-7 tiebreaker).

“They were up 2-0 in the second set and then we won six straight, I got down in the second set and kind of got us both down, but then coach came over and calmed us down and we came back,” said Campbell, who first teamed with Loftus in MDI’s fourth match of the season. Since then, the duo has lost just once – in the Penobscot Valley Conference tournament.

“I think our second or third match together, we started getting comfortable with each other,” Loftus said. “Before that, we were like two singles players trying to play doubles.”

Loftus said the key to Saturday’s comeback over Dan Hassett and Teddie Piper was changing their return strategy.

“We just had to direct the ball and not rely so much on power. It was more guiding the ball with our rackets,” he explained. “We just had to get used to the spin and touch they were putting on their shots.”

Trojans coach Bob Christie said the rematch with Falmouth may have had the same result as last year, but he sees much to be excited about, especially since only two players (brothers Paul Fineman and James Fineman) graduate.

“We tend to have more multi-sport athletes doing tennis than just pure tennis players and it’s tough to compete against guys who play tennis all year round, but that’s the nature of the sport in areas where you don’t have a lot of programs and courts,” Christie said. “We’ve done well with what we’ve had. I saw a lot of talent and these guys evolved very nicely as a team this season.”

The team match win was the 400th of Falmouth coach Bob McCully’s career. His Yachtsmen finished up 16-0 this season while MDI wound up with a 13-3 mark.

In the girls match, Andy Strout’s Cape Elizabeth girls made it look easy with straight set victories all around as his Capers beat Waterville 5-0 and finished with a 16-0 mark. Waterville finished 14-2.