By Kevin Sjoberg
Sports Reporter
The Caribou girls tennis team completed a successful season last Wednesday, falling just one victory short of capturing the school’s 10th Eastern Maine championship.
Contributed photo/Michael York of the Bangor Daily News
Carlee Pinette listens intently to Caribou coach John Habeeb during a break in between sets at last Wednesday’s Eastern Maine Class B championship match against Waterville. Pinette dropped her singles match in straight sets and the Panthers ousted the Vikings, 4-1.
The No. 1-ranked and defending regional champion Waterville Panthers proved to be too tough an opponent at Colby College in Waterville, sweeping all three singles matches and also prevailing in second doubles for a 4-1 win over coach John Habeeb’s Vikings in the EM Class B finals.
It marked the second consecutive year the Caribou bowed to Waterville in the playoffs. Last year, it was a 3-2 defeat in the quarterfinal round.
“They had their whole team coming back, so we knew it was going to be really tough,” Habeeb said.
The veteran coach acknowledged the Panthers were especially strong in No. 1 singles and also held the edge in second doubles. “The middle of the lineup looked like the only place we could have done anything,” he said.
However, Waterville proved to be too much in that area. Olivia Lopes scored a 6-1, 6-1 win over Ashley Richards of the Vikes in second singles, while Caribou’s Katie Keaton battled back from losing her first set to Jayme Saulter, 6-2, to take a 5-2 lead in the second – only to fall in a tie-breaker, 7-6 (7-1).
Colleen O’Donnell, Waterville’s No. 1 singles player who had advanced to the top-eight in the state singles tournament, beat the Vikings’ Carlee Pinette in straight sets, 6-2, 6-3.
The losses were the first in the regular season and post-season for both Keaton and Pinette.
Caribou got its lone win in first doubles, with Alexa Massey and Erin Patton having to fight hard for a 6-4, 7-6 (7-5) triumph. Waterville came out on top in the other doubles match, as Melanie Bureau and Brittany Saulter cruised past Clara Collins and Emma Duplissie-Cyr, 6-0, 6-2.
Despite the loss, Habeeb was impressed with the accomplishments of his squad, which featured two new singles players (following the graduation in 2011 of Jenna Selander and Laura Collins) and a couple revamped doubles combinations.
“The girls had a great season … I told them it was the best one we’ve had without winning a title,” Habeeb said. “I thought they hung in there and played well all year.”
The highlight was a sweep in matches against Ellsworth, the No. 3 team in the region. Caribou won the two regular season matches and the playoff semifinal, all by 3-2 margins.
“We went undefeated [on the regular season], sent three players to the state singles tourney, with one (Richards) making it into the Round of 16,” he said. “We captured the Penobscot Valley Conference Class B team title and we got a bunch of PVC and All-Aroostook awards.
“It was a nice group to work with.”
