Class B tennis: Waterville girls, Yarmouth boys win championships

The Waterville girls tennis court players will hold the championship after winning Cape Elizabeth 3-2 in Class B on the final Saturday at Lewiston High School. Drew Bonifant / Kennebec Journal

LEWISTON Depth had been the primary strength for the Waterville girls tennis team throughout the season. On Saturday, it lifted the Purple Panthers to the biggest win of all time.

Waterville won both doubles to win the match with a third single from Sarah McNeil, and the Panthers won Cape Elizabeth 3-2 in the L-Class B final at Lewiston High School in the first state championship in program history.

“It’s a world-wide feeling,” said Waterville junior Keira Gilman, part of the first pair of teams along with Karin Zimba, who won 6-2, 2-6, 6-2 to get the championship. “I’m full of emotion. It was the hardest match ever. “

It was a similar story in the boys ’match, as Yarmouth also lost the top two singles, but swept the doubles and won the third single from a 3-2 win over Waterville. That’s another straight title from the Clippers (15-1).

“We had a very deep team,” Yarmouth coach Bill Shardlow said. “Of all the teams I’ve coached, the talent gap between 1 and 8 is the biggest on this team I’ve ever been on. If you look at our two-player No. 2, they’re good tennis players. We knew our whole season was determined by that.”

Depth has been the backbone of the Waterville girls (16-0), who were dealt only four individual losses, leading to the state finals, none of which came from the teams of Gilman and Zimba and Hannah Hubbard and Miranda Troy. Waterville also had strong players among the top two singles, Inga Zimban and Amna Sheikh, but with Cape Elizabeth (13-2) Blair Hollyday and Caroline Gentile brought double matches to life.

Watervilles Inga Zimba will make a comeback in her simple match against Cape Elizabeth on the Class B final Saturday at Lewiston High School. Drew Bonifant / Kennebec Journal

“We knew it was coming up that (not) 1 singles were hard to take along,” Waterville coach Devin Lachapelle said. “We knew we’d have to take both singles and probably (not) 3 singles.”

That’s how it played when Gentile won 6-2, 6-2 in the second doubles, but McNeil won 6-4, 6-2 on the third single to help the Panthers level off.

“I knew going in that I had to win my match,” McNeil said. “But I honestly didn’t think about it all that much. I didn’t feel the pressure until 4-2 in the second set.”

As Hollyday was on his way to a 6-1, 6-1 victory over No. 1, the focus shifted to double fields where both matches went three sets. Hubbard and Troy’s second team finished first, winning 6-2, 6-7 (4), 6-1. In the first Gemini, Gilman and Karin Zimba knew the heat was on.

“It required a lot of concentration, and Karin and I are really good at balancing each other and reassuring each other when it comes to such a big match,” Gilman said. “It helped tons.”

“There’s a lot of pressure,” Karin Zimba said. “You can feel that pressure. It can get you if you don’t keep a clear head and focus. “

He and Gilman made and returned from secondary losses to seal the title.

“(The team) played incredibly well,” Lachapelle said. “The fact that both twins were able to really squeeze in and take charge in the third installment was, of course, critical. It was awesome.”

In the boys ’match, Yarmouth dominated from the start, jumping into the big lead in the third duel. The matches ended within minutes of each other; First Andi Cobaj and Miles Hagedorn beat Cole Bazakas and Nick Poulin 6-1, 6-0 in the second doubling, then Quinn Federle beat Josiah Bloom 6-0, 6-3 in the third singles, followed by Sutter Augur and Ethan Lombard 6-3, 6-2 in the first doubles.

Owen Evans (6-1, 6-3) and quarterfinals of the doubles tournament Charlie Haberstock (6-3, 6-1) won the Panthers (15-1) in Series No. 2 and one single. .

Federle, a sophomore, was particularly sharp in helping Yarmouth build an early leadership position.

“I played really well in the first set, letting him back in the second,” he said. “I just came shooting in the beginning. I think the first set was the best I’ve played this season. “

Federle said the Clippers learned early in the spring that they would become a difficult team.

“After the first few matches, we were pretty clearly the team that won,” he said. “I don’t think we really let it get to us.”

Not even after most of the 2019 core was completed last year.

“We had to build a little this year, a re-tool,” Shardlow said. “None of our three singles had played singles before this year.”

However, with the depth of the Clippers, the reconstruction could not have gone more smoothly.

“We’ve been like that all year,” Shardlow said. “We’re a deep team just grinding it.”

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