Staff Writer
PRESQUE ISLE, Maine – Eight area high school tennis players will represent Region 1 at the Class B Maine singles tournament on the weekend of May 30-31 at Lewiston High School and Bates College.
Presque Isle’s Sarah Porter, Alex Carter and Caleb Mathers and Caribou’s Franz Zehentner, Jenna Selander, Octavia Panzeri, Shane Belanger and Casey Lancaster all move on to the state competition after winning their bracket at the Eastern Maine Region 1 Class B tennis singles tournament on Saturday.
Porter took her final round 6-2 and 6-0 over Viking Laura Collins. Selander defeated Wildcat Madelyn Carson 8-0 in the semifinals to face Jessica Caron in the final match; both matches went to Selander 6-3 and 6-3. Panzeri qualified for the state competition defeating Meghan Murphy 6-2 and 6-4.
Zehentner volleyed for an easy 6-0,6-0 victory in his final round against Nathan Beaulieu. Carter moved through 6-0, 6-1 over Fort Kent’s Adam Bouchard. Mathers pulled off a 6-3, 7-6 victory for the winning slot. Lancaster defeated David Levasseur 6-0 and 6-2 to move on to states. Belanger defeated Presque Isle’s Ben Picard 6-0 and 6-1 for the final position.
Tennis scores
The Wildcats and Vikings faced off at the Presque Isle courts for a Class B tennis rematch on May 13.
The Presque Isle girls’ reaffirmed their domination to move their record to 8-0 with a 4-1 victory while the boys’ dropped their match 5-0.
In girls’ singles, Sarah Porter kept her aggressive returns and serves to defeat Octavia Panzeri 9-7. Allison Dean defeated Laura Collins 8-2, and Wildcat Amy Michaud capitulated to Jenna Selander 8-4.
In doubles, Wildcat pair Brittany Bearden and Alyssa Farley took down Nicole Nadeau and Meagan Nadeau 9-7, and Jen Steeves and Madelyn Carson defeated Missy Nadeau and Elizabeth Barbosa 8-5.
On the boys’ courts, Alex Carter fell to Franz Zehentner 8-3, Ben Picard to Shane Belanger 8-0 and Sam Picard to Casey Lancaster 8-2. Doubles team Bryce Fagin and Michael Picard fought their opponents hard, but fell to Keegan Wakana and Tim Langlais 8-6. Chris Cawley and Caleb Mathers lost to Taylor Jepson and Spencer McElwain 8-4.
