Experience on the tennis courts can make a world of difference in close matches. Just ask the Mountain Valley girl’ team. The Falcons recently completed a highly successful regular season with 10 wins and are prepared to host a Class B playoff meet.
Mountain Valley entered the season with a wait-and-see attitude when it came to the competition. The Falcons’ guarded approach paid off with a stellar 10-2 record that Mountain Valley hasn’t seen since the program won three-straight Mountain Valley Conference championships in the mid 1990s.
“Absolutely,” Mountain Valley coach Elaine Michaud said, regarding the veterans. “It really helped because our three singles players returned. Another thing that helped was our doubles teams really came through during the season.”
Michaud is referring to the Falcons winning several meets by 3-2. Mountain Valley discovered early on that nothing would come easy after having been shutout by eventual MVC champion Winthrop. The only other loss was at Boothbay.
The trio of singles players included junior Moriah Cormier at No. 1, senior Heidi Roy and sophomore Mahala Patrick.
Michaud doesn’t keep records during the season, but waits to recognize each player at the team banquet.
“I’ve never maintained records through out the season,” Michaud said. “I just don’t believe it’s necessary because tennis is such an individual sport. The matchups are different and I see no reason to put pressure on a player by pointing to their record. They know if they’re playing well or not.”
The doubles teams were assembled during preseason and the combinations soon developed a consistency between each other. The key was communicating together on the court.
The No. 1 doubles is comprised of senior Amelia Arnold and Danielle Desjardins. The third senior in the top seven is Lyndsay Haynes who plays beside Allison Duguay.
Mountain Valley finished fourth in Class B and will host Cape Elizabeth in a quarterfinal playoff meet this afternoon. The rare event certainly isn’t lost on the Falcons who trust the home cooking will pay off.
“I’m looking forward to it,” Michaud said. “It’s the first time in my coaching tenure that Cape Elizabeth will be coming to our place.”
Raiders roll
A successful year isn’t always based on wins and losses, but you’d be hard pressed to derail the satisfying feeling surrounding the Oak Hill boys’ team which recently completed its best season in over a decade. The Raiders’ 4-8 record is the most wins the program has had and it’s a big switch in direction from just two seasons ago.
Oak Hill was struggling to stay afloat in the Class B of the Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference. There was a genuine lack of interest in the program when Matt Dean assumed the coaching duties in 2001. A pair of consecutive winless campaigns didn’t curtail the future.
“I think our success has to do with paying our dues and being steadfast in purpose,” Dean said. “When I took over three years ago, I had to walk around the school to find enough kids to field a team.That first year we had just enough players.”
There were four sophomores on that team, Joe Thurman, Nick Blais, Nate Bourgoin, and Jason Beaulieu and will each graduate in June, along with Josh Perron. Bourgoin is one of four players who have maintained a 90-plus GPA in high school.
“We took our lumps the first two years,” Dean said. “But had a lot of fun and the kids stuck with it and were enthusiastic about learning and playing the game. They just love to get out and hit the ball. We have a great time in practice just working on the fundamentals and learning the game of tennis.”
Sophomore Sean Amos at No. 1 singles won a tiebreaker to seal a team victory over Rockland. Troy Tracy, a junior, was 7-3 at No. 3 singles. He is also an honor roll student. Freshman Nic Daggett played with Bealieau on the first doubles team.
” I try to emphasize that it is a great game,” Dean said, who teaches history and geography. “A player can enjoy it for most of their life. It is also a great way to meet people and develop social skills. It is a gentlemen’s game.”
The Raiders’ initial win was memorable because it was a four-hour plus match against Rockland. Every match was over two hours, four matches were decided by tie breakers and Amos finished the last one in the dark. There were several strong performances, including Bourgoin who was down 1-5 in the third set and won in a tiebreaker. Beaulieu and Thurman in doubles were down 0-5 in the third set and came back and won in a tiebreaker. Tracy also won in three sets that day.
“The attitude of these kids has always been great,” Dean said. “It is going to be tough for me to see that original group graduate, especially after our success this season. They have always shown a lot of character and conducted themselves as gentleman on and off the court. I look forward to the end of the day and getting out on the courts with these guys.”
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