By Kevin Sjoberg
Sports Reporter
All three Caribou boys’ singles players, along with one of the girls, have advanced to Saturday’s state singles tennis tournament, to be held at Lewiston High School.
All four Vikings went undefeated at the Region I qualifier, held last Tuesday at Caribou High School, earning them the right to compete this weekend.
Zac Gorence, Michael Marquis and Ethan Plourde moved on in boys’ play, as did Ashley Richards in the girls’ draw.
Gorence was an 8-1 winner over Forrest Bouchard of Van Buren in his opener before pulling off the upset of the event and knocking off top-seeded Ian Lee of Madawaska, 9-7.
Marquis got past Calais’s Justin Hallowell, 8-3, and then came from behind to beat No. 3 seed Lance Jandreau of Fort Kent, 2-6, 6-2, 7-5.
Plourde enjoyed a first-round bye and beat Drew Barrett of Presque Isle, 8-2, before stopping Ryan Chasse of Fort Kent, 6-2, 6-3.
The trio joins Presque Isle’s Liam Hughes as the boys’ qualifiers from the northern region.
For the girls, Ashley Richards eased to victories in her two matches. After earning a bye in the opening round, Richards was an 8-1 winner over Van Buren’s Courtney Parent and then dominated Cassie Nelson of Madawaska, 6-0, 6-0.
Also competing for the Vikings was Alexa Massey, who beat Lauren Doak, 8-3, after drawing a bye in the first round. Against Sarah Smith of Calais in the next round, Massey fell, 6-2, 6-3.
Caribou’s other singles player, Erin Patton, withdrew.
Smith was one of the other qualifiers, as were Kayla Girardin and Sara Gilson, both of Presque Isle.
The Caribou tennis teams are scheduled to wrap up their regular season matches today at home against Houlton.
Heading into that match, the Viking boys are in second place in the Eastern Maine Class B standings with a 10-1 mark. The lone blemish came Saturday at the hands of John Bapst in one of two matches played at CHS. Caribou won the other and also recorded a victory over Fort Kent.
The Caribou girls are in fourth place with their 8-3 record. The Vikes swept John Bapst Saturday but also suffered a 3-1 loss to Fort Kent.
The PVC doubles tournament is being held Saturday, with the girls playing in Hermon and the boys in Brewer.
