Teams from the St. John Valley and Washington County were crowned Class C North tennis champions at Hampden Academy on Tuesday.
Van Buren/Wisdom won the boys title with a 3-2 victory over George Stevens Academy of Blue Hill, while Washington Academy captured the girls crown with a 3-2 victory over Orono.
The regional championships are the first for each team.
Washington Academy, which played a predominantly Class B schedule while playing its first season in Class C, spotted Orono a 1-0 lead as Hillary Whitmore and Bekah Jaksa defeated Cora Sanchez and Aviva Bridges 6-2, 6-4 at second doubles.
The Raiders answered with two straight victories as Yagmur Bolukbasi and Crystalann Kloeber topped Grace Langley and Hillie Whitmore 6-4, 6-3 as first doubles and third seed Tina Pham defeated Josie Veilleux 6-4, 6-2.
That left the title in doubt briefly, with Washington Academy’s Carlote Echevercibar and Orono’s Celia Buetens entering the second set of their battle at second singles and top seeds Sarah Moulton of Washington Academy and Clarice Bell of Orono ready to start their match.
Echevercibar scored the deciding point with a 6-3, 6-1 victory, while Bell edged Moulton 0-6, 6-2 and 1-0 (6) in a super tiebreaker to conclude the match.
Top-ranked Washington Academy (13-2) will face the winner of Wednesday’s Class C South final between Waynflete of Portland and Maranacook of Readfield at 12:30 p.m. Saturday at South Portland High School.
No. 3 Orono ended its season at 13-2.
The boys match came down to a battle between top singles players Xavier Deschaine of Van Buren/Wisdom and Robbie Bennett of George Stevens Academy.
With the match tied at 2-2, Deschaine won the first set 6-3 and then held off Bennett 7-6, 7-2 in the decisive second-set tiebreaker.
The victory capped off a sweep of the three singles matches by the Crusaders, as Jordan Clavette defeated Oliver Lardner 6-4, 6-1 at second singles and Brady LaPlante topped Quinn Jackson 6-0, 6-0 at third singles.
George Stevens won both doubles matches, with Ben Hallett and Cyrus Black outlasting Blake Martin and Mikhail Deschaine 6-0, 5-7, 6-1 at first doubles and Alex Newman and Charlie Kolish defeating Sam Hebert and Eric LaPlante 6-2, 6-4 at second doubles.
Coach Lea Levasseur’s fifth-ranked Crusaders (13-1) will face Waynflete of Portland for the state title at 4:30 p.m. Saturday at South Portland High School.
Waynflete defeated North Yarmouth Academy 3-2 in Tuesday’s Class C South final, and the 11-4 Flyers have won the last 13 state championships in the division.
Second-seeded George Stevens ends its season at 9-6.
