LEWISTON – Elyse Cole battled out a third-set tie breaker for the meet clincher as the Winthrop won its first-ever Western Class C regional championship by knocking off North Yarmouth Academy at the Wallach complex at Bates College.
The play was suspended two times for more than an hour because of rain. Winthrop (15-0) will face Orono (10-4) in the state champion meet on Saturday at Lewiston High School.
‘I’m just ecstatic,” Cole said. ‘I just wanted to get the job done. We’re not supposed to look around the courts, but I couldn’t help myself from knowing the situation.”
The slender senior needed all her energy to outlast Alex Mack 6-2, 4-6, 7-6 (9-7 in the tie breaker). The NYA No.3 singles player had survived four match points to tie the score. Nearly every point was extended by solid returns.
‘It was fun to play against her,” Cole said. ‘But this is the regional final, so I expected that she’d be good.”
The match had been set up by Karla Fretchette’s 6-2, 7-5 victory at No.2 singles. Frechette, formerly of Lewiston, had put the Ramblers up 2-1.
NYA, the two-time defending state champs, led 1-0 after winning at No. 1 doubles 6-0, 7-5 (5).
‘Elyse won a war of attrition,” Winthrop coach Wilbur Shadlow said. ‘I hate to see anyone lose a match like that. Our second doubles had really picked us up.”
Laura Kenney and Nikki Minor had won a highly-competitive match, 6-4, 7-6. Ali Dick of Winthrop played Laura Noyes in the final match.
On the boys’ side, Winthrop was shut out 5-0 by Waynflete. It was the Flyers third regional crown in four years.
Ben Whipple provided the clincher 6-4, 6-2 over Nick Ortchman at No.3 singles. The Ramblers Jason Dick overcame a slow start to tie up the first set 4-4, but he eventually lost 6-4, 6-3 to Eli Feller at No.2 singles.
‘We knew Waynflete would be tough,” Sharlow said. ‘I thought we had some good match-ups, but we came out flat. But, no complaints.”
John Asen beat Ryan Czadoin in straight sets at No.1 singles.
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