PORTLAND — It was a tall task for the Golden Trojans boys tennis team as it had to face top-seeded Deering in the Western Maine class A quarterfinals.
There was no storybook ending or David vs. Goliath upset. Deering won the match 5-0 and moved on to the semifinals.
For Thornton Academy, it’s the end of the road after a positive season.
“We had a good season,” said coach Andy Carlson. “We got back to the playoffs. Eight years in a row we’ve gotten to the playoffs. I don’t think a lot of people recognize that we’ve done that for eight consecutive years. It’s not an easy accomplishment in any program, certainly not in tennis.”
The program saw senior Tyler Gaylord make it to the round of 32 in the singles tournament, and doubles pair Alex Lambert and Justin Pollard win the SMAA doubles championship this year.
The Thornton team that faced Deering was without Lambert and Pollard. Lambert has a broken hand, and Pollard made himself unavailable. Pollard was supposed to play No. 3 singles, but Thornton had to forfeit that match, putting themselves in a 0-1 hole before the match even started.
The No. 1 singles match was a familiar one for Gaylord. He faced off against Jesse Butler, who had already beaten him in the regular season and the singles tournament. It was an entertaining, back-and-forth match, but Butler came out on top again with a 6-4, 6-3 win.
“We’ve played a lot in the past three years that I’ve played tennis. This is the best I’ve played against him, and I think this is one of the best that he’s played,” Gaylord said about facing Butler. “It was just really fun. I was looking forward to this match ever since I heard that I would be playing him again.”
Hans Lu dropped the No. 2 singles match to Noah Finberg 6-1, 6-3. Lu had leads in both sets before Finberg went on long runs to end both of them.
The No. 1 doubles team of Avery Kibler and David Parran fell 6-2, 6-2 to Jamie Gullbrand and Tyler Butler. The pair had been playing as the No. 2 team earlier in the season, but had to move up to No. 1 with the absence of Lambert and Pollard. After winning in the prelims the day before, the tandem was overmatched from the start.
The No. 2 doubles team gave the Golden Trojans hope of avoiding a sweep, as it won its first set 7-6 on the 12th tie-break point. Josh Vance and Will Caras were playing only their second match together, but ultimately dropped the last two sets 6-2, 6-3 to Antonio Macomber and Jordan Roche.
“Those guys are always willing to take on a new challenge,” Carlson said of Vance and Caras. “I think you saw today, they took it to a three-setter there, and they definitely played hard right to the end.”
Carlson and his team will look to make it nine consecutive playoff seasons next season, but it won’t be easy. The Golden Trojans graduate Gaylord, Kibler and Pollard.
“We graduate three seniors this year,” Carlson said. “We got to make sure that we can restock the playing positions for next year. We got a little work to do.” — Contact Wil Kramlich at 282-1535, Ext. 323.
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