LEWISTON – This time, there would be no third set.

Not in what might have been his last match, and not with so much riding on his point.

“This was possibly my last match,” Lewiston senior Mike Butler said. “I was going to win it, whatever it took.”

With his team in desperate need of a spark, Butler followed teammate and fellow senior Ben McDonough’s lead and polished off Mats Haaland in short order – 6-1, 6-1 – to lead the Blue Devils to a 4-1 team match win over the Dragons, earning for Lewiston its seventh consecutive Eastern Maine Class A crown at the Wallach Tennis Complex on the campus of Bates College.

“He starts off slow, and then he cranks it up in the second set,” Butler said of Haaland. “I had it in my mind that I had to come out fast in the second set.”

Butler, one of two seniors on the Lewiston High School boys’ tennis roster, was the deciding point in a hotly contested, 3-2 Lewiston team victory over Brunswick late in the regular season, and had to go three sets against Haaland to earn the win.

Despite the victory, Lewiston coach Ron Chicoine remained nervous much of the afternoon as he watched his doubles teams struggle out of the gate.

“Both of Brunswick’s doubles teams are really good,” Chicoine said. “We needed a doubles win. Without one, we weren’t going to win the match, and until the matches clinch, you just don’t know what’s going to happen.”

In the match of the afternoon, Alex Chicoine and Scott Gagne rallied from a set down at No. 1 doubles to earn their team’s fourth point in a 6-7 (6), 6-2, 7-5 victory over Joe Messerman and Christian Schneider.

McDonough got things rolling for the Devils with a convincing 6-1, 6-0 win at No. 2 singles over Kyle Mersereau.

“I had to do my part, as a senior, I wasn’t going to lose,” McDonough said. “Maybe by posting a good score early, it helps inspire or cheer on the rest of the team.”

On the next court, Brunswick got the point back as Marshall Shepherd avenged an earlier-season loss to Eric Hall by beating the sophomore 6-1, 6-1, the same score Hall had won with.

“It’s close every time we see them,” Brunswick coach Rebecca Christiansen said. “We needed to come out today and play each ball one at a time and try to overcome it.”

Eric Morin and Keagan Cote reestablished the Devils’ lead with a rally of their own, resurfacing from an early 2-0 hole to win 6-4, 7-5 at No. 2 doubles.

“They played solid tennis when they had to,” Chicoine said. “

Lewiston will face Windham on Saturday at 4:15 p.m. at Colby College in Waterville for a chance at a seventh consecutive state title.

Quick work

It took just 45 minutes for the Lewiston girls’ tennis team to get where it needed to be Thursday.

Stephanie Gagne and Michelle Nadeau turned in a 38-minute win over Brianna Shirley and Ellin Hale, Jessica Bowen and Becca Lessard charged through their match against Tori Haggett and Anna Lozano in 42 minutes, and Chantalle Lavertu wasted little time upending Kelsey Boyce at No. 1 singles to lead the Devils to a 5-0 match victory over No. 6 Morse at Bates College’s Wallach Tennis Complex.

“It’s harder to stay focused going into a match knowing you’ve beaten them before, twice,” Lavertu said. “Against a team you’ve never seen or beaten, it’s automatic that you’re so focused. But we did that today.”

Emilie Cloutier earned her team’s fourth point in a long 6-2, 6-3 marathon at No. 2 singles with Adrienne Jaeger, and Abby Blaisdell rallied from down 5-6 in the first set to win in a tiebreak, and cruised to a 6-1 win in the second to complete the sweep.

“I told the girls, we had to be on our toes,” Lewiston girls’ coach Anita Murphy said. “I respect that team. They’ve worked hard to get here.”

The Lewiston girls will see undefeated Portland in the Class A state championship match Saturday at Colby College.