AUBURN – Next year, Lewiston High School is joining the Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference, leaving the Southern Maine Activities Association behind. Forgive tennis coaches in the SMAA if they don’t shed any tears, especially after the last three years.
The Lewiston girls’ team completed its third consecutive, perfect regular season on Monday, winning its match against cross-town rival Edward Little, 5-0.
“We knew how strong they were coming into the match,” said EL coach Kevin Vincent. “Lewiston is almost always the strongest team in the West, and we knew we were the underdog today. I would have liked to see a few more close matches, but that’s the way things go sometimes.”
Alli Bleakney officially clinched the match for the Blue Devils when she defeated Jenna Nicolas 6-3, 6-2 at No. 3 singles. That match took little more than one hour.
“We had a lot of long rallies,” said Bleakney. “I didn’t know until halfway through the second set that we had two wins already.”
Finishing in order from bottom to top, Lewiston’s No. 2 doubles tandem of Amanda Bergeron and Jessica Roy made short work of EL’s Jennifer Hawley and Sydney Orne, 6-0, 6-3. Roxanne Healey and Beth Melanson made it 2-0 with a 6-2, 6-2 decision over Brenda Wylie and Tess Chamberland, setting up Bleakney’s clinching match.
“You can tell how a team plays and how you might match up against them by looking at their scores in matches against common opponents,” said Lewiston coach Anita Murphy. “We knew just by having seen them play that they stay in every point and fight, so it wasn’t a matter of taking them lightly.”
Katie A. Morin and Amy Sarrazin wrapped up the scoring with straight set wins over Andrea Gove and Jaimie Ward, respectively. Morin and Sarrazin have yet to drop a set this season in team singles play.
“They are playing so strong and they are so focused this year,” said Murphy. “They know what’s at stake this year.”
Clean sweep
The boys’ team also wrapped up its season in quick fashion, toppling the Red Eddies 5-0 across the river in Lewiston. Four of the five boys’ matches took less than 50 minutes to complete as the Blue Devils finished off their season with an 11-1 record.
“It’s one of those situations where you watch them all year and know that they are the underdog, but you have to play them tough because it’s Lewiston against EL,” said Lewiston coach Ron Chicoine. “Regardless of records, this always has the potential to be a tough match.”
Adam Wilding, Mike Burke and Nate Theriault all recorded quick, straight-sets victories of their opponents to give Lewiston the win. The Blue Devils as a team dropped just 10 total games to the Red Eddies.
“We knew we were the underdog coming in,” said EL coach Norm Gellatly. “I just told the kids to try and stay in every point and not give up. For the most part, they played well. We just ran into a very good team.”
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