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WATERVILLE — The road to the Class B girls tennis championship still goes through Waterville Senior High School.
The Purple Panthers advanced to their fourth consecutive Class B state final Wednesday with a 4-1 victory over Mount Desert Isle in a battle between undefeated teams at Colby College.
Waterville will now face the winner of Spruce Mountain and Greely, who play in the Western B finals Thursday at Bates College.
“It’s awesome. I’m so proud of my team,” senior Jayme Saulter said. “We pulled it together.”
Saulter and playing partner Emma Cristan ultimately pulled it together to clinch the match for Waterville, but the win didn’t come without resistance from MDI’s Sierra Bloom and Mackenzie Myers.
After winning the first set 6-2, the Panthers seemed well on their way to an easy win after taking a 5-2 lead in the second set.
Bloom and Myers battled back to take the next two games though, and went on to take a 30-0 advantage in the 10th to threaten to tie the set.
To further add pressure to the moment, the spectators on hand began to gravitate toward the first-doubles court in anticipation of Cristan and Saulter closing out the match.
“I was actually telling (Cristan) this is kind of scary,” Saulter said, “having everybody watch us.”
In that moment Cristan rose to the occasion, finishing a cross-court backhand return at the net to prevent the MDI duo from going ahead 40-0 and also cutting the deficit in half in the process.
“I was so proud of her. It was awesome. Perfect cross court,” Saulter said. “It was very important. I wasn’t nervous, because I knew we could pull it back together, but it was a little nerve-wracking when we lost those few points.”
The shot seemed to tip the scales back in favor of Cristan and Saulter, as the duo proceeded to take the next three points to close out the 6-2, 6-4 victory.
“Our key thing was patience,” Saulter said. “That’s what we kept telling each other.”
“We work really well together so we can pick each other up,” added Cristan. “We know what’s going on and we know what to do next. We just pick each other up really well.”
Saulter and Cristan were in position to close out the match thanks in large part to the impressive play of their teammates.
At No. 1 singles, Colleen O’Donnell set the tone for the Purple Panthers by scoring a resounding 6-0, 6-0 victory over Madeline Cook.
“Colleen’s been here. She’s been to singles tournaments, she knows that you can’t change anything in 20 minutes before the game so you have to play your game,” Waterville coach Jill Cristan said. “Lead by example I always tell Colleen and it’s just confidence. Shoulders back, keep your feet moving.”
Shortly after O’Donnell’s victory, Chelsea Cayer and Fotini Shanos put Waterville one win away from Saturday’s state championship at Bates College.
After taking the first set 6-1, the duo survived a lengthy, back-and-forth battle between deuce and advantage before finally closing out Maeve Geary and Emily McCarthy 6-3 in the second set.
“Communication, that’s what it’s all about,” Jill Cristan said. “Chelsea is a great leader, Fotini is a great athlete and you put them together and you have a great team.”
After the outcome of the match had been decided, MDI’s Sarah Phelps defeated Waterville’s Olivia Benissan 6-3, 6-4 at No. 3 singles.
In the day’s final match, Emily Dufour of Waterville scored a 6-3, 1-6, 6-4 victory at No. 2 singles over MDI’s Ivy Wallace.
Evan Crawley — 621-5640
Twitter: Evan_Crawley
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