WATERVILLE, Maine — Emily McCarthy and Olivia McCarthy often finish each other’s sentences during conversations.
Such can be the nature of twins, as it is with the two sophomores from Mount Desert Island High School in Bar Harbor.
“We think similar thoughts,” said Olivia.
The McCarthy sisters also have developed the knack for finishing each other’s points during tennis matches, as is the nature of doubles partners, and that shared experience helped top-seeded MDI win its first Eastern Maine Class B championship since 1993 on Wednesday.
The Trojans’ second doubles team survived a 9-7 first-set tiebreaker against Caribou’s Danielle Hanson and Taylor Fournier-Belanger, then surged to a 7-6, 6-1 victory in one of the key matches of the regional final held at Colby College.
“There was a lot of tension there because we really wanted to win the first set so we wouldn’t have to worry about getting two more,” said Emily McCarthy. “We were really happy after we won that first set, and from there the match went pretty easy.”
MDI seniors Ivy Wallace and Maeve Geary earlier had finished off straight-sets victories at second and third singles to give MDI (14-1) a berth in Saturday’s state finals at Lewiston High School against the winner of Thursday’s Western B title match between Greely of Cumberland Center and Lincoln Academy of Newcastle.
“I thought this was definitely a possibility,” said MDI coach Ben Rowell, whose team had advanced to last year’s EM final only to drop a 4-1 decision to Waterville. “Early on in the season we had some shakeup in our lineup and I didn’t know what the effect would be, but the girls really rallied together.”
Sixth-ranked Caribou, which had won road matches at Waterville and at John Bapst of Bangor to earn its championship-match berth, concluded its season with a 13-3 record despite a lineup featuring four freshmen and two sophomores.
“You’ve got a lot of girls here who last year were playing middle-school tennis, and here it’s a much bigger stage and the stakes are a lot higher,” said Caribou coach John Habeeb. “Next year I think we’ll be a little more used to it and hopefully we’ll play a little better because today could have been a lot closer. A few points here or there, that’s the way it is a lot of times, but the MDI team should be given credit for how well they played.”
Wallace won the first point of the match for MDI with a 6-3, 6-1 win over Caribou sophomore Conner Spencer, and Geary — with just one loss in third singles this year — followed with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over senior Makayla Bouchard.
Securing the needed third point proved more challenging, particularly with Caribou bouncing back from first-set losses at first singles and first doubles.
But McCarthy and McCarthy persevered, rallying to level the first set at 6-6 and then emerging with the momentum-sustaining tiebreaker victory.
“If Caribou wins that first set I think it’s a whole other match because we’re still feeling the pressure because we had our chances to win and we’re thinking about that missed opportunity,” said Rowell. “But they were able to pull that one out.
“Then they got a roll in the second set and that’s how they can play, for sure. When they play together like that, they’re definitely on the same wavelength.”
Caribou freshmen won the remaining two matches in three sets, with Gabrielle Marquis outlasting Sarah Phelps 4-6, 5-0, 6-2 at first singles and the Vikings’ first doubles tandem of Ashley Matlock and Ciara Richards defeating MDI’s freshman duo of Ellie Bridgers and India Janes 3-6, 7-5, 6-1 at second doubles.
In Class A, top-ranked and undefeated Lewiston ended Brunswick’s three-year reign of the regional title, edging the second-seeded Dragons 3-2.
Lewiston, which secured its first EM crown since 2011, will face either Falmouth or Scarborough in Saturday’s state final.
Lewiston’s Lizzy Michaud and Chloe Morin won the first completed match at second doubles, then Brunswick’s Maddie Stoll and Katherine Kunhardt tied the score at 1-1 by winning at first doubles.
Lewiston earned the title with wins by Kyleigh Letourneau ad second singles and Alanna Taylor at third singles, with each winning one set in a tiebreaker en route to their straight-set victories.
Brunswick’s Kira Wolpow outlasted Maddi Roy at first singles in the lone three-set match, 3-6, 6-3, 7-5.
