AUBURN —   Since joining the Mountain Valley Conference, the St. Dom’s boys’ tennis squad has been dealing with a rather large monkey on its back.

It’s name was Dirigo.

“I was hopeful we could beat Dirigo this year,” Saints’ coach Kevin Cullen said. “That was kind of our task, because we’d never beaten Dirigo. They’d beat us every year since I’ve been a coach.”

Mission accomplished.

And then some.

With a thrilling 3-2 match victory over Dirigo and an equally tense 3-2 win over another perennial MVC contender, Hall-Dale, the Saints punctuated a perfect season in the MVC at 12-0, the first anyone associated with the team can remember.

“We started running off wins, I was like, ‘Wow, my singles players are amazing,'” Cullen said. “Austin Christopher and Joe Greco both played doubles last year. They moved from doubles to singles, and they both ended up undefeated for the season. That’s when I realized we were good, when Austin started beating all the No. 2s, and decisively, and nobody was a match for Joe at No. 3.”

And then there is Zack DeBlois. The Saints’ No. 1 player is unbeaten in team matches this season, and is the only player from Region 4 qualifying (encompassing Androscoggin, Franklin and Oxford Counties) to have advanced to the MPA Singles Tournament Round of 16.

“We were just planning on trying to make the playoffs,” DeBlois said. “I feel like we’ve improved as a team, because we practice together every day. We all make each other better, and we all improve as a team because of it.”

DeBlois was the only player ensconced at his current position. Christopher and Greco both played doubles a year ago. Both climbed the ladder this season, bumping a pair of singles players back into the doubles mix on a team that didn’t lose a single varsity player to graduation.

Another reason for the team’s increased success the past few years?

“Every kid on this team is a multi-sport athlete,” Cullen said. “We don’t have pure tennis players here, very much like most of the kids in the Lewiston-Auburn area. They’re multi-sport athletes. We take what we’re given, get the ball back, and try to make them make mistakes and play with patience. When we do have a chance to win a point, use the offensive skills that we can develop.”

Christopher is a shining example of that theory. One of two starting goalies on the Saints’ ice hockey team, he parlays those quick-twitch skills into an unparalleled net game.

“Especially at the net, reaction time from hockey, it definitely helps me,” Christopher said.

For Greco, the team’s ability to stay loose when it needs to fuels its ability to win.

“We like to joke around a lot, but when the matches come around, we’re serious,” Greco said. “Afterwards, we joke around, and in practice, but before and during a match, we’re serious, because we want to win every match.”

And they have. So far.

“Our goal was, let’s get a top-four seed in the playoffs, let’s at least get a home match, and pray we don’t get (perennial WMC power) Waynflete in our part of the draw,” Cullen said.

The Saints finished at No. 1, but not only will they draw Waynflete in a potential semifinal, but a date with former Western Maine Conference rival North Yarmouth Academy looms in the Western Class C quarterfinal round Thursday.

“We got the worst draw in the world, but you know what, if we are going to be the best team, we need to try and defeat the best teams.”

The players are also taking it all in stride.

“We can’t change the way we play,” DeBlois said. “I feel like we have a good team, and that we could surprise the teams we haven’t played.”

“You don’t want to change things, but you want to be ready,” Greco said. “We’re just going in like it’s a regular game.”