ORONO — When the Mt. Blue High School girls tennis team played Hampden Academy in the Eastern A semifinals, the Cougars were loose. They did not face Hampden in the regular season, and the Cougars pulled off the upset.
But Mt. Blue’s opponent in the Eastern Maine finals was Brunswick, a team that defeated Mt. Blue twice in the regular season. On Wednesday afternoon at the University of Maine, Mt. Blue fought that history as much as it took on the Dragons, and the result was the same as both regular season meetings, a 5-0 Brunswick win.
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“My girls, at Hampden, played looser. We were just able to not worry about a loss as much as putting points together,” Mt. Blue coach Judy Upham said. “We knew we were in a ballgame today. I was hoping for more points.”
Brunswick (15-0), the defending Class A state champions, will face Portland in the state title match Saturday. Mt. Blue ends the season at 11-4.
“We expected we’d play well in each of our matches and could come away with a win,” Leah Soloway, Brunswick’s third singles player, said. Soloway won her match against Savannah Swain, 6-0, 6-0. Soloway and Swain exchanged a number of long back and forth play, which was part of Soloway’s plan.
“One of my strategies is to be as consistent as possible, and if I do that, I can get into their head and come away with points,” Soloway said.
The Dragons’ first doubles team of Samiera MacMullen and Hannah Bobker earned Brunswick’s first win of the day, 6-0, 6-0 over Cassidy Bigos and Alyssa White. After Soloway’s win, Ali Stankiewicz’s 6-0, 6-0 victory over Makenzie Thompson at second singles sealed the win for Brunswick.
Brunswick’s second doubles team of Ari Kasabian and Elizabeth Day won the closest match of the day, beating Thia Bridges and Eryn Doiron, 6-3, 7-5.
The match ended with Maisie Silverman, Brunswick’s top player and runner-up in the state singles tournament this season, taking a 6-1, 6-0 win over MacKenzie Conlogue.
“It was a fabulous season,” Upham said. “We’ve had fun. We had fun here today. We love tennis.”
Travis Lazarczyk – 861-9242
tlazarczyk@mainetoday.com
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