Sports
FA boys tennis FEARTURED
Aroostook Republican photo/Kevin Sjoberg CLASS B NORTH SEMIFINAL ACTION -- Jerry Zhou of the Foxcroft Academy Ponies returns a shot during his loss to Caribou's Gabe Rand in the semifinal tennis match played Saturday in Caribou. The 5-0 defeat against the No. 2 Vikings was the sole loss of 2018 for the third seed Ponies, as Foxcroft ended with an overall record of 13-1.
Aroostook Republican photo/Kevin Sjoberg CLASS B NORTH SEMIFINAL ACTION -- Jerry Zhou of the Foxcroft Academy Ponies returns a shot during his loss to Caribou's Gabe Rand in the semifinal tennis match played Saturday in Caribou. The 5-0 defeat against the No. 2 Vikings was the sole loss of 2018 for the third seed Ponies, as Foxcroft ended with an overall record of 13-1.

Caribou boys tennis tops Foxcroft in B North semifinal

Kevin Sjoberg, Aroostook Republican Staff •June 4, 2018

CARIBOU — The Caribou High School Vikings boys tennis team forged into the regional championship with dominating performances in the semifinals.

The Caribou squad rolled to an easy victory on Saturday, with the matches being played at the Caribou High School tennis courts on a cool and windy day. The No. 2 seeded Caribou boys stopped Foxcroft Academy by a 5-0 score.

The 14-0 Caribou boys will now take on top-ranked Waterville in Tuesday’s Class B North title matches to be played at Colby College in Waterville. The winners move on to the state championships, which are set for Saturday, June 9 at Lewiston High School.

Many observers expected a close match as both teams entered with undefeated records. Caribou coach John Habeeb didn’t see it that way, based on matchups from the regular season in 2017, and was confident his team would prevail. That hunch came into fruition as the Vikes steamrolled the Ponies, 5-0.

“I looked at how our guys did against them last season and who each team had coming back, and I felt good about things,” Habeeb said. “I think we are a stronger team than a year ago and that proved correct.”

Parker Deprey, playing first singles, had to survive a second-set tiebreaker against his opponent, Kaz Kawashima, but prevailed 6-1, 7-6 (9-7). The other two singles matches were blowouts as Alec Cyr downed Austin Bickmore, 6-0, 6-0, and Gabe Rand dominated Jerry Zhou, 6-1, 6-0.

Bailey Griffeth and Sawyer Deprey gained a straight-set over Griffin Loomis and Brandon Weston, 6-1, 6-2, while Emerson Duplissie-Cyr and Seth Beidelman used their senior experience to have their way against R.J. Nelson and Ryan Dankert, 6-2, 6-2.

Aroostook Republican photo/Kevin Sjoberg
CLASS B NORTH SEMIFINAL ACTION — Jerry Zhou of the Foxcroft Academy Ponies returns a shot during his loss to Caribou’s Gabe Rand in the semifinal tennis match played Saturday in Caribou. The 5-0 defeat against the No. 2 Vikings was the sole loss of 2018 for the third seed Ponies, as Foxcroft ended with an overall record of 13-1.

Get the Rest of the Story

Thank you for reading your4 free articles this month. To continue reading, and support local, rural journalism, please subscribe.
Create an account and subscribe