The Streak is over.
Scarborough won a pair of doubles matches to complete a 3-2 victory over top-seeded Falmouth in the Class A South girls’ tennis final Thursday at Apex Racket and Fitness in Portland.
Falmouth (14-1) lost for the first time since a regular-season match against Waynflete on May 2, 2008. Included in that 187-match streak – ranked fifth-longest in the country, according to the National Federation of High Schools website – were 11 state championships.
The giant killers from Scarborough High defeated Falmouth, 3-2, in the Class A South girls’ tennis regional final. Glenn Jordan/Portland Press Herald
“That was pretty insane,” said Scarborough senior Amelia Hardy, who combined with sophomore Mayne Gwyer to tie the match 2-2 with a 6-4, 7-6 (11-9) victory at first doubles.
“We had no pressure coming into this,” Gwyer said. “To be the team that beat Falmouth is incredible.”
“It’s going to go down in history,” Hardy said.
Scarborough (14-1) clinched the regional title when juniors Ashley Sabatino and Sydney Koukos rallied to win 1-6, 6-3, 6-2 on their fourth match point at second doubles. Their match ended moments after Hardy and Gwyer pulled out their tiebreaker on an adjacent court.
“We really didn’t have anything to lose because they’ve won for 10 years,” Sabatino said. “No one would expect us to win but if we won it would just be amazing, and it is amazing.”
The No. 3 Red Storm, who lost 4-1 to Falmouth in late April in Scarborough, advanced to the Class A state final Saturday against Lewiston, the undefeated North champion, at Lewiston High School.
A year ago, Lewiston and Falmouth were tied in the state final with the Blue Devils up a set in the deciding match at No. 1 singles before Meredith Kelley rallied to victory. On Thursday, Kelley won 6-1, 6-2 and fellow junior Sara Fallon won 6-2, 6-3 at No. 2 singles for Falmouth.
Scarborough junior Kellie Guerette avoided the singles sweep by avenging her April loss to Falmouth senior Maddy Joyce, 6-2, 6-0.
“We’re a team until the end,” said Joyce, who joined her teammates in a long, tear-filled huddle afterward. “We win together and we lose together. We love each other and we’ve worked so hard. Just because it didn’t go the way we wanted doesn’t mean it wasn’t a successful season.”
Earlier Thursday in Class B South, defending state champion Lincoln Academy swept the singles matches to clinch what turned out to be a 4-1 victory over second-seeded Greely.
The top-seeded Eagles (14-1) advanced to the Class B state final Saturday at Lewiston High against a familiar foe – North champion Erskine Academy lost to Lincoln 4-1 in the regular season and 5-0 in the Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference championship match.
Organizers from the Maine Principals’ Association said they believe Lincoln and Erskine will be the first teams from the same conference who played in the regular season to meet for a state title.
“We’re thrilled to play with them,” Lincoln Coach Kandi Kinney said. “The kids are friendly. We are equally proud of them for making it. It’s great to know we have great competition within our own league.”
Sophomore Caitlin Cass (6-0, 6-2) and junior Fiona Liang (6-2. 6-2) won decisively at first and second singles. Senior Emily Harris had a tougher time at No. 3 singles before pinning the season’s first defeat on Greely senior Kaitlyn Thompson, 6-1, 6-3.
Harris said she had to change tactics late in the match when Thompson started to rally.
“I came to the net a lot more in the second set,” Harris said, “because she was winning on consistency.”
Both doubles matches were close. Lincoln junior Sandra Thelander and sophomore Harmony Ingham pulled out a 6-1, 4-6, 6-1 victory at first doubles. Greely senior Taylor Meredith-Pickett and freshman Mia Netland salvaged a point at second doubles by winning a 10-point tiebreaker in lieu of a third set: 7-6 (12-10), 0-6, 10-7.
“When we heard we lost the (overall) match, we lost our steam,” Netland said in explanation of the second-set bagel.
“Then we were like, ‘We want to get this for our team and for ourselves,’ ” Meredith-Pickett said. “We got our steam back.”
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
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.