FARMINGTON – The Mt. Blue High School tennis teams continued their ballistic ball bashing with the boys hosting Cony High School as the girls visited Hampden Academy.
The Cougar boys (6-3) notched the nets on Wednesday with the Rams from Cony (0-8), whom were looking for their first win of the season. The Cougars continued their clutch tennis tenacity, rattling the Rams from top to bottom.
Tom Marshall in the first singles continued his consistent play beating Cony’s Sean Tenney 6-0, 6-1. Cougar Joe Crandall defeated Jake Whitley 6-3, 6-2, to give Mt. Blue a 2-0 advantage. Chris Marshall finished a 3-0 sweep of the singles, dispatching Alex Stewart 6-2, 6-0.
The Doubles crews found similar success in the Cougar carousel. Andrew and Ryan Haszko in the first doubles dance dropped Rams Garrett Brown and Bryant York 6-3, 6-0. Tristin McFarlane and Cole Dorman secured the Cougars crushing 5-0 overall victory, defeating Gavin Martin and Isac Philbrook 6-0, 6-0.
The Cougar ladies tennis (6-4) played Hampden Academy (8-1) for the second time in three days. The 1 loss Broncos bested the Mt. Blue gals in both contests with mirrored 3-2 scores.
Mt. Blue girls tennis coach Judy Upham is thrilled with her teams play in the recent weeks.
“We are having success in part because some of these girls have been putting their time in and waiting for positions to open up,” Upham explained. “Last year’s team had six seniors who had most of the varsity places. The returning girls are hungry for the chance to play and want to keep their positions.”
The competition to remain on the court for these girls Upham believes is a driving force in their advancement not just individually, but to improve as a cohesive squad.
“Tennis as a team sport is sometimes difficult because the girls have to play off against each other to earn their spots,” Upham elaborates. “I like to tell the girls that each girl has an opportunity to make the team stronger because, even if they don’t get the position they want this year, they are forcing the other girls to play their best.”
In the first singles Bronco Melissa Reichel upended Cougar Addie Schanz 6-1, 6-3. Aubra Linn of Hampden topped Hannah LeClair 6-3, 7-5. Grace McIntosh of Mt. Blue broke up the Bronco sweep by defeating Shelby Deron 6-3, 6-1.
Doubles were split between the Broncos and Cougars. In the first doubles Maeve Hickey and Brianna Jackson defeated Hampden’s Ashley Mahoney and Isabella Urban 6-1, 6-4. Hampden’s second doubles, Lauren MacDonald and Emma Nelson secured the victory over Mariel Damon and Bailey Levesque, 6-3, 4-6, 6-1.
The boys and girls host Brunswick and Messalonskee respectively, on May 20.
