Tom Mathews kicked things off with a 6-1, 6-2 singles victory over Biddeford’s Evan Santiago to give the Rams the 1-0 advantage. Jayden Gaudreau would then top Biddeford’s Ricky Ruck 6-1, 6-4 to extend the Gorham lead.
Biddeford’s Cam Saucier would take on Connor Sweatt in the final singles match, and the two would put on a show as Saucier gutted out a tough 2-6, 7-6, 6-3 win to get the Tigers on the board.
Although Biddeford was still pressing late in the match, the Gorham doubles pairings would be the difference as the Rams pulled away with back-to-back victories.
Ryan Ficarin and Dylan Weeks pushed past Biddeford’s Mustafa Najm and Jerome Criado while Drew Erd and Sean Pocock beat Matt Villemaire and Jon Roberge to secure the 4-1 win.
The Rams improve to 7-3 on the season and stand as the No. 4 seed in the Southern conference. Gorham coach Aaron Landry was pleased with his team’s performance, and was glad to see the Rams finally get some continuity in their schedule as the postseason approaches.
“It’s coming together a little bit late this year with the snow. Finally with three games left we have some tennis weather. We feel pretty good about our spot and we’ll see how we do in the playoffs,” said Landry.
Biddeford falls to 5-6 on the year, and are currently in a three-team race for the final playoff spot in the South. Despite Wednesday’s loss, Biddeford coach Mark Ouellette still believes the Tigers will qualify, and also looks forward to catching up on practice in order to sharpen things up prior to the postseason.
“We should be in the playoffs — what’s good is that we have Thornton Academy on Monday and then we can get ready for the playoffs. We haven’t had a practice (since April), we just haven’t, haven’t been able to do,” said Ouellette.
The Tigers finished 2016 with a 6-6 record along with a playoff berth, and Ouellette has been impressed with his team’s ability to overcome roster turnover and be in a similar spot in 2017.
“We’ve had some new players step up, our goal is to just get a consistent roster and play,” said Ouellette.
As for Gorham, Landry hopes that his team can take the next step forward and compete against Southern powerhouses such as TA, Portland and Falmouth come the playoffs.
“Portland is very good and TA is just on another level right now,” said Landry. “We’re playing well though … you have to play the matches.”
— Associate Sports Editor Alex Sponseller can be reached at [email protected].
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