Colby Knapp didn’t play much clutch tennis in 2007.

“I subbed him in when we played some of the weaker teams,” Dirigo boys’ tennis coach Bruce Thompson said. “But he didn’t play much beyond that.”

This year, Knapp played full time – and he played well.

The Cougars’ No. 3 singles player didn’t win every match, like his friend Enrico Ross at No. 2, but he won when it mattered. Because of his efforts, the Cougars are celebrating a No. 1 seed in Western Class C, along with an MVC Conference championship.

“He was the one that made the difference,” Thompson said. “He lost the first meeting (against Mountain Valley’s Brian Germain) in three sets. He lost the first, won the second and then lost the third the first time we played them. This time, he made sure it didn’t go to three sets.”

Knapp took care of Germain in two sets, following Ross and No. 1 singles player Kaile Underwood to victory, leading the Cougars to the crown.

Those three singles players have been Dirigo’s bread and butter all season. Down the stretch, Underwood, Ross and Knapp were instrumental in 5-0 wins over Winthrop and Hall-Dale, pushing the Cougars past the Ramblers (9-3) and Waynflete (11-1) into the No. 1 spot in Western Class C.

“Beating Winthrop, especially beating then 5-0, which I didn’t expect, and then beating Hall-Dale really put us up over the top,” Thompson said. “I was surprised we ended up No. 1, really, and I was at least hoping we could end up No. 2 so we could end up playing Winthrop again. That would have been a great prelude to playing Waynflete.”

As it stands, Dirigo will face Hall-Dale in Round 1, and either Mt. Abram or Monmouth in Round 2.

“We’ll be playing teams we’ve already beaten easily until (the Western finals),” Thompson said. “We just have to find some competition in between time to make sure we’re ready for them.”

MVC teams have had a rough go of it in recent years at the state team level. Teams like Waynflete and North Yarmouth Academy, which play much tougher schedules, and which have players who play year-round, have owned Western C.

“Last year, we beat Waynflete,” Thompson said. “We lost first singles, but won all the other positions.”

This year, the task got tougher. Waynflete freshman Brandon Thompson earned a berth in the state singles semifinals, and has pushed last year’s No. 1 player, Devin Van Dyke, to No. 2.

“The first singles person has moved down to second singles now, with (Brandon Thompson) in the lineup,” Thompson said. “It’s going to be a challenge.”

Thompson will leave it up to his singles players to at least get the team that far.

“Kaile Underwood is really focused, as far as his playing is concerned,” Thompson said. “He hits the ball hard, he likes to hit passing shots, and he works his way, basically, to the net, where he can take care of business, too. And he’s very coachable. If I go and tell him something is a weakness, he’ll go and work on that part of his game to make it a strength, or at least make it so that it’s not such a weakness.”

Ross, meanwhile, has completes his MVC career undefeated.

“He hasn’t lost a match (in the MVC) in the four years he’s played singles,” Thompson said. “He’s basically a backboard. He’ll keep bringing the ball back, bringing the ball back, and it really frustrates his opponents.”

In this year’s MVC Championship, Mountain Valley’s Curtis Bolduc took Ross to a third set.

“He’d never been to three sets,” Thompson said. “He’s always taken care of business in two sets.”

And, of course, there’s Knapp, who Thompson says has just gotten better as the year has gone on.

“He’s learned the game as he’s gone along this year, and the match against Brian Germain of Mountain Valley, it was close the whole way through. He doesn’t usually do this, but he kept focused. He knew what he had to do, he knew how he had to do it, and he just had to get the job done.”

With a tough road ahead if the Cougars hope to make a splash at the state level, Thompson knows his three big guns will have to arrive a’blazing.