HAMPDEN, Maine — When the list of Eastern Maine’s high school tennis powerhouses is compiled, the likes of Ellsworth, Lewiston, Brunswick, Camden Hills of Rockport and George Stevens Academy of Blue Hill routinely come to mind.
Tucked away on the state’s rooftop with a preseason condensed by late-melting snow and a regular-season schedule reduced by geographic considerations, the Van Buren girls team nevertheless has earned its way onto that list.
Isabel Parent’s come-from-behind victory at third singles made the difference Tuesday as the third-ranked Crusaders won their third consecutive Eastern Maine Class C championship with a 3-2 victory over top-ranked Mattanawcook Academy in a battle of unbeatens at the Armstrong Tennis Center.
“This was our goal,” said Courtney Parent, Isabel’s second cousin and Van Buren’s top singles player. “We thought it would be so cool to win it three years in a row.”
Coach Leah Levasseur’s team, which has just eight players and had to replace three key performers — including current University of Maine basketball player Parise Rossignol — from last year’s title team, will take an 11-0 record into Saturday’s 4:30 p.m. state final at Lewiston High School.
The Crusaders will face the winner of Thursday’s Western Maine final between four-time defending state champion Waynflete of Portland and North Yarmouth Academy.
“After losing Parise and Chantal [Deveau] and losing another girl to the [Maine School of Science and Mathematics], I didn’t think this was going to happen again,” said Levasseur. “But these girls stepped up to the court and stepped up to their positions and played their best tennis every game.”
Mattanawcook, which was seeking its first regional crown since winning three in a row from 1998 to 2000, ends its season with a 14-1 record.
Isabel Parent, one of three senior singles players for Van Buren, lost her first set to MA’s Leah Susen and trailed 5-4 in the second with Susen attempting to serve out the match.
But the more aggressive groundstrokes Parent began using at the outset of the second set began having their desired effect, as she won nine of the final 10 games in the match to secure the championship-clinching 4-6, 7-5, 6-1 victory.
“When I get frustrated, I tend to hit it harder,” said Parent after the 2-hour, 20-minute marathon.
Parent’s victory came just after MA top seed Meridith Blessard closed out a straight-set victory over Courtney Parent that tied the match at two victories apiece.
“Isabel wasn’t playing well in the first set but then she came back around and she’s a good athlete and it showed,” said Levasseur. “You have to be a good athlete to come back in these conditions, playing inside and in humid weather.”
Paige Hesseltine and Emily Robinson staked Mattanawcook to a 1-0 lead with a 6-1, 6-3 victory over Lindsey Gendreau and Kaila Roy at second doubles.
Van Buren senior Felisha Bouchard — like Isabel Parent a career-long doubles player until this spring — tied the match with a 6-1, 7-5 victory over Ava Broderick at second singles.
After controlling the early stages of her match Bouchard — a left-hander who hits both a two-handed backhand and a right-handed forehand off the backhand side — quickly fell behind 3-0 in the second before rallying for the straight-set win.
“I told myself I needed to calm down,” said Bouchard, “so I got my nerves down and I played better.”
Bouchard’s victory came just before junior Alexis Ouellette and freshman Danika Deschaine finished off their 6-2, 6-3 win over MA’s Ali Hardy and Abby Morrison at first doubles to give the Crusaders a 2-1 lead.
Then as Blessard, a senior who reached the Round of 16 at this year’s state singles tournament, quickly pulled ahead of Courtney Parent at first singles, attention quickly turned to the other yet-to-be decided match — even by at least one player on the other court.
“I was trying to catch her match a little bit here and there,” admitted Courtney Parent. “First of all, she’s my cousin so I like to know how she’s doing, so between points when I noticed my opponent going to get a ball, I’d look over. She did great.”
Other EM finals at Colby
The Eastern Maine team tennis championships continue Wednesday at Colby College in Waterville.
Competition begins with the Class B boys and girls finals at 10 a.m., followed by the Class B matches at 1 p.m. and the Class C boys final between top-ranked George Stevens Academy of Blue Hill and No. 1 Piscataquis of Guilford at 4 p.m.
GSA (13-1) has won five consecutive regional titles and eight in the last nine years, while Piscataquis, a relatively new varsity tennis program, is making its first appearance in the EM title match.
The Class B boys final matches two perennial powers in top-ranked Ellsworth (14-0) and No. 2 Camden Hills of Rockport (13-1).
Camden Hills is the defending Eastern B winner, having edged Ellsworth 3-2 in last year’s semifinals before defeating Oceanside of Rockland-Thomaston 3-2 in the championship match.
Top-ranked Brunswick (13-1) and No. 2 Mount Ararat of Topsham (13-1) will square off for the Class A boys crown. The neighboring rivals split two regular-season matches, each winning by a 3-2 count.
Mount Ararat is the defending Eastern A champion.
Brunswick, the three-time defending Eastern A girls champion, will go for four in a row against top-ranked and undefeated Lewiston (14-0). Lewiston handed 13-1 Brunswick its only defeat this spring, edging the Dragons 3-2 in a mutual regular-season finale on May 22.
Top-ranked Mount Desert Island (14-1) will face No. 6 Caribou (12-2) for the Eastern B girls crown. Those teams met back on April 18, with MDI scoring a 4-1 win on the island.
MDI is seeking its first regional crown since 1993, while Caribou last advanced to the state final in 2010.
