WATERVILLE — When Greely’s Katie Steinberg and her partner, Jordan Bryant, fell behind by three games in the second set of their No. 1 doubles match on a blustery Saturday afternoon at Colby College, Steinberg took a look at the scorecards of nearby courts and saw a lot of red numbers.
Those numbers meant Caribou was giving Greely all it could handle.
“We saw how things were going,” Steinberg said. “We knew we had to get our point.”
“You could feel the intensity building,” Greely Coach Ben Caswell said.
Steinberg and Bryant stormed back to win 6-1, 7-6 (5), and when senior Kathryn Pare completed her singles victory moments later, the Rangers were Class B girls’ tennis state champions for the third time in four years.
“It was definitely a hard win,” Pare said. “We didn’t know much about their team.”
Greely wound up with a 3-2 victory. Both teams finished 15-1.
In the boys’ final, Camden Hills won for the second year in a row, sweeping past Yarmouth 5-0, winning all five matches in straight sets. The Windjammers (16-0) had faced Cape Elizabeth the previous three years, but Yarmouth, a surprise regional champion as a No. 4 seed, knocked off the Capers 3-2 in the South final on Thursday.
“We were hoping to play Cape Elizabeth,” Camden Hills senior Colby Arau said. “They beat us freshman and sophomore year and we wanted to repay the favor.”
Arau won 6-0, 6-2 at No. 2 singles. Classmates Matt Morse (6-4, 6-4) and Josiah Krul (6-2, 6-0) also won in singles.
“I didn’t care who we were playing,” said Krul, who was awake until 2 a.m. Saturday morning following graduation. “Now I really feel like I graduated.”
The Camden Hills doubles lineup consisted entirely of underclassmen. Cooper Russell and Henry Cooper won at No. 1 and David Poutasse and Noah Heidorn won at No. 2, both by the score of 6-1, 6-3.
Saturday marked the first state championship appearance for Yarmouth (10-6) in eight years. Because of construction on the high school courts, the Clippers were forced to practice at a local elementary school that had only two courts.
“We really didn’t expect this spot, being in finals for state of Maine,” said Serbian exchange student Igor Nikolic, who had not played competitive tennis until this spring and rose from No. 3 on the Yarmouth ladder to No. 1. “This is a great end of year.”
Six of Yarmouth’s seven players are seniors.
“We’re athletic,” Coach Mark Marstaller said. “But I can’t say we’re athletic tennis players. Camden Hills, they were great.”
In the girls’ final, junior Izzy Evans at No. 1 singles gave Greely a 1-0 lead with a 6-3, 6-1 victory over Gabrielle Marquis. Caribou tied it at No. 2 doubles and also won at No. 3 singles when senior Kelly Nicklaus outlasted Greely freshman Paige Evans, 6-2, 2-6, 7-6 (7).
“My freshman year, it was a lot easier,” said Izzy Evans, who spent her sophomore year in Spain. “Here, you looked around and all the matches were really tight.”
Glenn Jordan can be contacted at 791-6425 or:
Twitter: GlennJordanPPH
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