LEWISTON — The Maranacook girls became part of Maine tennis history Saturday afternoon, but not the kind for which they were hoping.
In their first state championship appearance, the Black Bears fell 3-2 to Mattanawcook Academy, which ended a 27-year drought in Class C to become the first girls team from Northern or Eastern Maine to emerge victorious.
Mattanawcook (16-0), of Lincoln, swept both doubles matches, leaving Maranacook (14-2) no room for error in singles. That didn’t bother the Black Bears in Thursday’s regional finals, when junior Madelyn Dwyer, sophomore Emma Wadsworth and senior Karissa Lucas all beat their counterparts from Carrabec, with both Dwyer and Wadsworth requiring third sets.
On Saturday, Dwyer won 7-6 (7-5), 6-1 at first singles and Lucas won 6-4, 6-4 at third. At No. 2 singles, however, Lynx junior Katey Libby won the final five games of a 6-1, 6-2 decision over Wadsworth.
“It’s really disappointing losing because we came so far,” Wadsworth said. “But we all put up a good fight and it’s amazing we got here. I’m really proud that we made it here.”
Mattanawcook had been a runner-up four times, most recently in 2016 to St. Dominic.
“I was really nervous because we kind of got blown out last time,” Libby said. “I didn’t really know what to expect, but our coaches believe in us and they said do your thing and be confident and just leave everything out there.”
In the Class C boys final, Waynflete also made history with an 11th straight state title. The Flyers (16-0) beat Mattanawcook 5-0 and never lost more than three games in any set.
Earlier Saturday, the Lincoln Academy girls and Caribou boys each won by 3-2 in the Class B state championships.
Lincoln (16-0) swept singles against Caribou (15-1) and clinched when freshman Caitlin Cass beat senior Gabrielle Marquis at No. 1 singles to break a 2-2 tie.
Freeport (12-4) won at first and second singles but Caribou’s boys swept doubles and junior Gabe Rand won 6-3, 6-3 at No. 3 singles to give the Vikings their first state title since 2008.
For Maranacook, Dwyer won the first set after trailing 4-0 in the tiebreaker to keep hope alive.
“I’m not really a mental player,” Dwyer said. “I just try to keep the ball in play and let them make mistakes. It was a pretty big deal for us to make it here, so we’re all really excited.”
Mattanawcook coach Aaron Ward said his team learned from their experience two years ago and entered the season with high hopes. The Lynx even came up with a mantra — Fear The North — despite no Northern team ever winning the Class C state title.
“We knew we had an experienced group,” Ward said, “and we knew this had never been done. We felt like we wanted to give some teams down here reason to at least fear the North coming down.”
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