The night before the Western Maine tennis finals, members of the Falmouth High girls tennis team labored not over tendencies and scouting reports of their next-day opponents, but of costumed jewels affixed to lime green flip-flops with the help of glue guns, coaches Sandra Stone and Prisca Thompson and at least one patient mom.
“It’s called bedazzling,” said Stone, with an explanatory nod toward a long line of festive Falmouth feet at Wednesday’s post-match awards ceremony.
She was referring to the footwear, of course, but she may as well have been speaking about her team, which carries a 44-match win streak into today’s Class B state final against Eastern Maine champion Caribou. Both teams are 15-0.
Falmouth was seeded first and Caribou third in their respective regions.
Falmouth has won four of the past five Class B titles, has yet to drop a set this spring and sent its three singles players — sophomores Analise Kump and Annie Criscione and freshman Libby Voccola — into the finals, semis and quarters, respectively, of the state singles tournament.
Caribou had two players — eighth-seeded Jenna Selander and unseeded Laura Collins — reach the Round of 16.
Collins lost to eventual champ Elena Mandzhukova of Brunswick and Selander reached the quarters before losing a tight match (6-4, 6-4) to Kump, the other finalist.
The Falmouth-Caribou match is one of six state title contests on tap today in Waterville. A full day on the blue courts of Colby College is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. with the Class A boys and girls, followed by Class C at 1 p.m. and Class B at 4 p.m.
IN CLASS A, Windham’s boys are seeking to end the seven-year championship reign of Lewiston, which is a remarkable 120-1 under Coach Ron Chicoine.
A year ago, Chicoine was looking to Windham Coach Wayne Martin for a congratulatory handshake when Chicoine’s first doubles team somehow dodged four championship points and cashed in its own ninth match point to tie a match the Blue Devils eventually won, 3-2.
The newspaper clipping describing that match has remained on Windham’s bulletin board ever since.
“There hasn’t been a day for any of them since,” Martin said, “that it hasn’t gone through their minds.”
Competitive tournament victories over Westbrook, Kennebunk and Scarborough sharpened Windham for today’s rematch with Lewiston, a 5-0 winner over Brunswick in the Eastern Maine final.
“Even though we beat Westbrook and Kennebunk 5-0, there were a lot of close games,” Martin said.
“If we hadn’t faced some adversity against them, we may not have been prepared for it (against Scarborough).”
In the girls’ Class A final, Gorham (14-1) makes its first-ever appearance, against four-time defending state champion Lewiston.
Not since Kennebunk in 2003 has a Western Maine team won the Class A girls’ title.
IN CLASS B boys, Cape Elizabeth showed the folly of Heal points in tournament seeding.
Seeded fifth after losing three matches (two against Waynflete, one against Falmouth) in the highly competitive Western Maine Conference, the Capers (12-3) ran the table against No. 4. Mountain Valley, No. 1 Gardiner and No. 6 York (a 3-2 winner over No. 3 Falmouth in the quarterfinals). Cape Elizabeth won each tournament match, 5-0.
Class B Eastern champ Camden Hills, seeded third in the regional, knocked off No. 2 Presque Isle and No. 4 John Bapst, both by 3-2 scores.
IN CLASS C, Waynflete (15-0) seeks its third straight title with a team that features three of the four semifinalists of the boys singles tournament: champion Brandon Thompson, runner-up Patrick Ordway and Devin Van Dyke.
For the girls, North Yarmouth Academy (14-1) goes for its fourth consecutive championship, against Eastern champion Dexter, the second seed from its region making its first appearance in the state finals.
Staff Writer Glenn Jordan can be contacted at 791-6425 or at:
gjordan@pressherald.com
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