Caribou tennis team wins 26th title

    CARIBOU – The Caribou Parks and Recreation Department hosted the County Doubles Tennis Tournament at the Teague Park tennis courts for area youths between the ages of 9 and 18 on Aug. 5. There were over 60 participants from Caribou, Presque Isle, Van Buren and Madawaska. Players competed in 10-12, 13-15 and 16-18 male/female age brackets by playing eight-game pro sets.    Teams earned two points for every first place finish and one point for a runner-up in the County Singles and County Doubles Tennis Tournaments. Caribou was in the lead after the County Singles Tournament with six points. Van Buren was in second with five points. Presque Isle trailed with four points while Madawaska tallied just three points. At the end of the County Doubles Tournament, Caribou earned seven more points and ended with a final point total of 13. Presque Isle scored five more points and Van Buren four for a second place tie. Madawaska finished fourth with five total points. This was the26th straight year that Caribou has taken home the team title after the annual youth tennis tournaments.
    In the 10-12 girls’ division, only three teams had entered the competition. Presque Isle’s Jenna Hallett and Jordi Legassie came out on top in the final by posting a well-played 8-5 victory over Ashley Richards and Clara Collins of Caribou. Both teams looked sharp, but the tandem of Hallett and Legassie would not be denied their first title.
    The 10-12 boys’ age bracket had seven teams looking to take home the championship. In the end, it was another Caribou versus Presque Isle final. Tyler Willey and Carter Chabot of Caribou applied superior skill and strategy to upend Presque Isle’s Hayden Dow and Kyle Goupille in a very close 9-8 (7-4) tie-break match.
    There were no surprises in the 13-15 girls’ division as five teams tried to make it to the championship match. Top-seeded Haley Lizotte and Natasha Bourgoin of Van Buren played well early to make it to the final. The two barely survived in a  semifinal match against Laura Collins and Cintamini Johnson of Caribou after a 9-8 (7-5) tie-break set. The pair went on to win the title match by defeating Caribou’s Carlee Pinette and Alexa Massey with an 8-3 score.
    The 13-15 boys’ age bracket had seven teams competing for the championship. Top-seeded Chad Caverhill and Phil Smith cruised through the early rounds before reaching the finals. Third-seeded Cole Richards and Conner Shaw of Presque Isle withstood stiff competition throughout the day and were eager to play the duo of Caverhill and Smith for the title. However, the team from Presque Isle had previous commitments and had to forfeit the final match.
    Only four teams competed in the 16-18 girls’ division. However, the finals pitted familiar high school tennis rivals from Madawaska and Presque Isle against each other and offered one of the most intriguing final matches of the entire tournament.
    Madawaska’s Nicole Daigle and Jamie Nadeau used a brilliant combination of experience and guile to post a resounding 8-1 victory over Taylor Parent and Jessica LaPlante of Van Buren in a  semifinal match. Presque Isle’s Allison Dean and Kayla Richards made it to the finals by defeating Jenn Ouellette and Macy Beaulieu of Van Buren 8-1 in the other  semifinal. Again, the final match was not to be unfortunately as Dean and Richards had prior obligations and forfeited to the Madawaska duo in the final match.
    The boys’ 16-18 age bracket had only three entries but had several talented players competing for the title. Second-seeded Riley Lizotte and David Levasseur of Van Buren survived a tough semifinal match-up with Ben and Sam Picard of Presque Isle 8-5 before facing top-seeded Taylor Jepson and Casey Lancaster of Caribou in a much anticipated final. Lizotte and Levasseur were able to defeat Jepson and Lancaster in the last match of the day with an 8-6 final score.
    Other players for Caribou were Krsna Johnson, Mitchell St. Peter, Gabe Massey, Michael Hunter, Elijah Verhoff, David Smith, Ethan Plourde, Chad Chabot, Preston Jackson, Zachary Gorence, Cameron Hill, Shaun Welch and Jacob Plavnick.
    The Caribou Parks and Recreations Department’s tennis teams are coached by 26-year veteran John Habeeb and second-year assistant coaches Kelley Damboise and Casey Lancaster.