By Justin Pelletier,Staff Writer

LEWISTON – Devyn Cote was beat. He and teammate Casey Poussard, playing at No. 2 singles for the Lewiston Blue Devils, had both advanced to net.

Deering’s Joe Colcord lobbed a ball with topspin over both of the Lewiston players and grinned slightly. Cote scampered backwards and turned his back to the other side of the net. As the ball fell in front of him, he swatted at it with two hands, still facing the street.

Deering’s tandem was flat-footed as the ball, with some topspin of its own, landed at their feet and bounced into the fence behind them.

“That shot turned the momentum,” said Cote. “We were down 2-1 at that point in the second set, and we needed the burst of energy. That helped us out a lot.”

Cote and Poussard, both freshmen, recovered to win the next four games and, after a few tense moments, finished out the set for a 6-4, 6-4 win over Colcord and Jason Barriault. That win clinched Lewiston’s third consecutive boys’ Class A State Championship, and 10th overall, as the Blue Devils took a 5-0 victory.

“They played like freshmen at times,” said Lewiston coach Ron Chicoine, whose teams have not lost a state title match in his three years as head coach. “But they were also able to dig deep and clinch this match for us. I’ve been putting pressure on that doubles team all year just for situations like this.”

On the next court, senior No. 1 doubles player Nick Bonenfant turned from his match to watch set point, which Poussard won with an overhead smash he said “was a little lucky” after the ball almost sailed over his head.

“I had just finished telling Devyn between points that any overheads he got, to just put them away,” said Bonenfant. “I told him to put those away and pick his angles, and on the next point, Casey did that.”

Bonenfant’s match, meanwhile, was perhaps the most entertaining of the afternoon. He and partner Dave Labonte dropped a tough first set to Deering’s Ben Porta and Ryan Whipkey 5-7, and fell behind 0-3 in the second.

“At that point, we looked over and saw that second doubles was in a little bit of trouble, so we needed to turn it on.”

The pair, which has started slow all season, mustered up enough energy in the searing heat to win the second set, 6-4, and finished out the match in the third, 6-3.

Bonenfant and Labonte finished the year undefeated, having won against every KVAC opponent against the PVAC champs (Bangor) and the SMAA champions (Deering).

While the doubles matches were hotly contested, the singles matches proved to be anti-climactic. Mike Sarrazin, who Chicoine calls the “best No. 3 singles player in Maine,” won quickly and easily in less than 45 minutes, taking out Scott Snyder 6-0, 6-0 to give Lewiston a 1-0 edge.

Not long after, James Morin bested Tyler Moulton, who played at No. 1 for Deering last year, 6-1, 6-1.

“We knew coming in they’d be tough at singles,” said Deering coach Brendan Conway. “We needed to steal a point in doubles, maybe even both of them.”

In the day’s final match, Adam Wilding endured a slugfest in the first set against Deering No. 1 Neall Oliver and lost, 6-7 with a 5-7 tiebreak, but rallied hard in the second and third sets to win those 6-0, 6-0.

“James played solid tennis again today,” said Chicoine. “Mike, he went undefeated all season and won today playing injured and sick, and the doubles teams both pulled through.”

“We knew coming in they’d be tough top to bottom,” said Conway. “We came in undefeated at No. 1 singles, our No. 2 had lost just once in the Western semis, our No. 3 just once in the Western final and the doubles No. 1 was the SMAA champ, but Lewiston was that much better today.”

Winthrop rambles on

Winthrop capped an undefeated season Saturday with the program’s first state championship, a 4-0 win over Orono at Lewiston High School.

“These girls have been an absolute joy to be around,” said Winthrop coach Wilbur Shardlow. “They’ve been tremendously solid all year. They’ve been this way for two years now, and this year, we had some girls just pick it up. It’s been a fun year.”

Kayla Frechette upended Camilla Lopez-Anido at No. 2 singles, 6-0, 6-4, while Elyse Cole defeated Katie Foley 6-0, 6-4 at No. 3.

In doubles, Sarah Cook and Anna White fought out a 6-4, 6-2 win over Katie Wagner and Jen Brown, while McKenna Minor and Laura Kenney took a 6-2, 6-1 win over Kate Weatherbee and Maridawn Lamb.

The No. 1 singles match between Ali Dick of Winthrop and Kate Kirby of Orono was suspended due to the threat of dangerous weather with Dick ahead 3-2 in the first set.