Sports Reporter
LEWISTON – Junior Jenna Selander of the Caribou Vikings made it through two rounds of the state singles tennis tournament successfully and even mounted a challenge against the No.1-seeded player in the event in the quarterfinals.
Staff photo/Joseph Cyr
Jenna Selander, shown during a pre-season workout in April, made it into the quarterfinal round of the state singles tennis tournament, held over the weekend at Bates College in Lewiston.
Selander ended up falling to Falmouth’s Analise Kump, 6-4, 6-4, but it capped a successful weekend on the courts for both Selander and classmate Laura Collins, who made it into the round of 16 before being eliminated.
Selander, seeded eighth, gained victories of Sarah Jordan of North Yarmouth Academy (6-2, 6-4) and Hannah Potter of Yarmouth, the No. 9 seed, (6-2, 6-0) before dropping her quarterfinal match to Kump in straight sets.
Selander became the fifth player in Caribou tennis history to reach the top eight. The others were Rudy Hoffert, Lise Carter, Anne Bernard and Franz Zehanter.
“I was happy because I wanted to go a little further than I did last year, which was the round of 16, and I did that,” Selander said. “Against the No. 1 player, I just wanted to give it my best because I knew playing her was only going to make me better, and I saw myself improving even during the match.
“It was hard to scrape up points, so I really tried to stay mentally focused.”
The unseeded Collins downed Blaire Burney of Cony (Augusta) in the first round, 6-4, 6-2, before losing to No. 2 Elena Mandzhukova of Brunswick, 6-1, 6-1, in the second round of the tourney, played at Bates College.
The other Caribou player in the tournament, Carlee Pinette, was beaten in the opening round by Frankie Lally of Edward Little (Auburn), 6-1, 6-0.
The PVC Doubles Championship was Saturday at Brewer. Both Viking girls doubles teams made it all the way to the semifinals before being ousted.
The Caribou team of Ashley Richards and Alexa Massey drew a first-round bye and then defeated Foxcroft Academy’s Jen Seavey and Emma Malay in the second round, 8-5, and Maddi Theoharidis and Vesta Davis of George Stevens Academy (Blue Hill) in the quarterfinals, 8-5. In the semifinal round, the Richards-Massey team was stopped by Caitlin Maloney and Rachel Ball of Ellsworth, 8-4.
The Vikings’ other duo, Missy Nadeau and Liz Barbosa, also had a bye into the second round. They beat Abby Stevens and Kiera Caron of Fort Kent, 8-2, and Hannah Van der Eb and Caroline Altman of GSA, 8-5, before succumbing to Hannah Worcester and Annika Sampson of MDI in the semis, 9-8 (7-3).
On the boys’ side, Caribou’s Matt Coty and Phil Smith advanced into the quarterfinals before losing to Liam Russell and Lucas Yoder of MDI, 8-5. In the second round, after a first-round bye, the Coty-Smith combo stopped Elliot Klaver and Mike Dunleavey of MDI, 8-5.
The Caribou boys’ other doubles team, Lucien Caverhill and Tyler Willey drew a bye in the first round and then fell to Jacob Leonard and Justin Lad of John Bapst, 8-1, in a second-round match.
