Lewiston’s Roslyn Wailus tosses the ball for a serve during her #1 doubles match against Brunswick Tuesday morning.

LEWISTON — Three was a magic number for the Brunswick girls’ tennis team at Tuesday’s Class A North final.

Brunswick’s senior doubles tandem of Sabina Smith and Katherine Kunhardt rallied from three games down in each set and pulled out the deciding match that gave the Dragons their first win in three consecutive regional final showdowns with top-seeded Lewiston, 3-2, at Maine Pines Racquet and Fitness.

Smith and Kunhardt trailed Lewiston freshmen Molly Chicoine and Roslyn Wailus 3-0 in the first set and 4-1 in the second but regrouped to win, 6-4, 7-6 (7-2) after the KVAC rivals had split the first four matches.

The third-seeded Dragons (13-2) advance to Saturday’s state final at Colby College, where they will face the winner of Thursday’s A South final between Falmouth and Thornton Academy. Lewiston finishes its seasons at 13-2.

Tuesday’s match was moved indoors from Colby College due to the rainy weather.

In contrast to the slow starts to their first doubles sets, Smith and Kunhardt finished strong, winning the final five points of the tiebreaker.

“I think mostly we just dug deep,” Kunhardt said. “We were, like, ‘We’ve got this.’ We’d beaten them twice before.”

“We just had to focus,” Smith said. 

“(Experience) makes all of the difference in the world,” Brunswick coach Rob Manter said. “I had two seniors out there. Lewiston had two freshmen. They handled themselves very well for freshmen, but you could see the difference in terms of how (Brunswick’s seniors) were calming down and hitting key shots.”

Smith and Kunhardt said they locked in after Brunswick senior Cassie Ridge tied the match at 2-2 with a 6-0, 6-3 win over Lewiston senior Chloe Morin in third singles on a neighboring court.

“I think, honestly, it helped me to know that if we don’t win this…” Kunhardt said.

“They’re freshmen, so they don’t have that experience,” Lewiston coach Anita Murphy said of Chicoine and Wailus. “I knew they wouldn’t give up. They didn’t give up. This was a good learning experience for them for the future. It turned out the way that I thought it was going to be, 3-2 either way.”

Lewiston’s victories came in second singles from Lizzy Michaud, who defeated freshman Anna Parker, 6-1, 6-3, and second doubles Zahara Shidad and Maddy Foster, who beat Aidan Sachs and Rae Bamberger, 6-1, 6-1.

Brunswick and Lewiston split their two regular-season meetings, which were played on May 18 and 19 due to one initially being rained out. 

The Dragons won at Lewiston, 3-2, and lost the rematch at home, 4-1. Brunswick was without No. 1 singles senior Kira Wolpow for those matches, but not on Tuesday. She won her match with Maddie LeBlond, 6-2, 6-4.

“Kira was fabulous. Cassie is always tough,” Manter said. “Anna is struggling a little bit with an arm issue. Hopefully, we can righten that ship before finals.”

Lewiston’s Molly Chicoine tosses the ball for a serve during her #1 doubles match against Brunswick Tuesday morning.Lewiston’s Molly Chicoine follows through on a forehand return during her #1 doubles match against Brunswick Tuesday morning.Lewiston’s Molly Chicoine hits an overhead smash during her #1 doubles match against Brunswick Tuesday morning.Lewiston girls tennis coach Anita Murphy cheers her team on during Tuesday’s championship match against Brunswick. In the background is her #3 singles player, Chloe Morin.Lewiston’s Roslyn Wailus sets up for a backhand during her #1 doubles match against Brunswick Tuesday morning.Lewiston’s #3 singles player Chloe Morin returns a forehand to her opponent, Cassie Ridge, of Brunswick, during Tuesday morning’s team championship in Brunswick.Lewiston’s #3 singles player Chloe Morin returns a lob to her opponent, Cassie Ridge, of Brunswick, during Tuesday morning’s team championship in Brunswick. Copy the Story Link