LEWISTON — As the boys of Waynflete pulled into Lewiston High School on Saturday morning, their opponents from Mattanawcook Academy were warming up on the tennis courts.

“We saw them serving, and they had real serving motions,” said Waynflete senior Nick Wagg.

“And they can hit the ball. So I think we were a little more nervous than we usually are.”

Of course, nerves are relative when your team has been top dog for a decade.

“We’re always pretty confident,” Wagg said, “especially when we’re carrying so many state titles.”

The Flyers brushed off any butterflies to win the Class C tennis state championship with a dominant 5-0 victory Saturday afternoon.

Advertisement

By winning 11 consecutive state titles, Waynflete joined Falmouth girls’ tennis (2007-present), Mt. Blue girls’ skiing (1992-2002) and St. Dominic boys’ ice hockey (1947-57) as the longest such streaks in Maine history.

In other state finals Saturday, Falmouth beat Camden Hills 5-0 in Class A and Caribou beat Freeport 3-2 in Class B.

Wagg, who played doubles for each of the previous two Waynflete championship teams, won 6-2, 6-3 at No. 3 singles. Junior Thorne Kiefer won 6-0, 6-0 and senior Jacob Greene 6-1, 6-1 at the other singles spots.

In doubles, freshmen Aidan Kieffer and Ben Adey did not lose a game and, at second doubles, senior Shuhao Liu and junior Chris Register won 6-1, 6-2.

“A lot of it has to do with how accessible tennis is,” Liu said. “Some of our opponents are from communities that might not have tennis year-round. That’s a factor.”

Waynflete’s only scare in the regular season was an early-season 3-2 victory over Freeport with Greene, a semifinalist in the state singles tournament, out of the lineup.

Advertisement

“I personally didn’t feel too much pressure,” Greene said. “But we definitely wanted to keep the tradition going.”

“They’re all fun,” Waynflete Coach Jeff Madore said of the 11 titles. “Really great group this year. I’m just proud of how well they’ve stuck together and worked hard and trusted each other.”

The 5-0 victory for Falmouth (16-0) was tighter than it appears on paper. Both doubles matches involved tiebreakers and only singles state champion Nick Forester (6-1, 6-0) avoided any hurdles.

Senior Alex Klemperer won 6-0, 6-4 at second singles and freshman Matthew Ray rallied from three games down in the second set to win 6-3, 6-3.

“We knew it was going to be tight,” Forester said of Camden Hills (15-1), which moved up to Class A this spring after winning consecutive Class B state championship.

“We didn’t really feel like we had it until we won three of the matches.”

Advertisement

Falmouth senior Matt Adamowicz and junior Calvin Spencer won 7-6 (7-2), 6-3 at first doubles and junior Jake Leavitt and Nick Shapiro won 7-5, 7-6 (7-4) at second doubles.

“They really buckled down when they needed to,” said Falmouth Coach Bob McCully, who notched his 11th state title. “It was very competitive.”

In Class B, Freeport (12-4) advanced to the state finals for the first time in school history. Junior Wes Goodwin won 6-4, 6-7 (6), 1-0 (6) and sophomore Clay Canterbury won 6-1, 6-2 at the top two singles positions but Caribou swept the remaining matches, all in straight sets.

In a battle of juniors at No. 3 singles, Gabe Rand of Caribou (16-0) outlasted Liam Gould of Freeport 6-3, 6-3.

Caribou won first doubles 7-6 (7), 6-3 and second doubles 6-2, 7-5 to win its first state title since 2008 over Falmouth.

“I thought it was a team that was comparable to us,” said Caribou Coach John Habeeb. “So we had a chance. That’s all you want, is to have a chance.”

Glenn Jordan can be contacted at 791-6425 or

Gjordan@pressherald.com

Twitter: GlennJordanPPH

Copy the Story Link

Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.

Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.