Boys’ tennis: Yarmouth, Waynflete extend their streaks

LEWISTON — The design is a simple one, created by senior Wiley Schumacher. A tennis ball with a word – Shardlow – inside the seams rests on the ground above a simple message beneath: Love All. 

Schumacher and his teammates at Yarmouth High have worn that logo on their left sleeves all season, in memory of their highly-respected coach, Bill Shardlow, who died in January of a stroke.

“What he taught us and what we learned from him was so powerful,” Schumacher said, “that I think we pulled it together ourselves and fought and made it happen.”

Fittingly, it was Schumacher and classmate Mile Sanokklis who delivered the clinching point Wednesday morning in a 4-1 victory over Mt. Desert Island at Bates College to give Yarmouth a fifth consecutive Class B boys’ tennis state championship.

Schumacher and Sanokklis have been in the Yarmouth tennis program since seventh grade, but not until this year, as seniors, have they been able to crack the starting lineup. They play second doubles, and held a slight 4-3 edge in the third set Wednesday morning at the Wallach Tennis Center when rain suspended play and forced the rest of the match inside on the carpeted courts of nearby Merrill Gymnasium.

Sanokklis, who missed the regional final Monday against Lincoln Academy because of a medical procedure, held serve, and soon they had wrapped up a 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 decision. Coupled with earlier singles victories by freshman James Hartnett and sophomore Xander Gordon, the doubles win clinched a perfect 16-0 season for the Clippers, who returned only two of last spring’s starting seven.

“It’s definitely been a battle this year, as compared with last year, when we wiped everyone out,” Schumacher said. “This year, it was very close with Greely at (regional) semifinals and Lincoln Academy. We fought and we came out on top.”

Senior Andi Cobaj completed the singles sweep at No. 1 with a 6-0, 6-1 victory, also indoors. Harnett won 6-4, 6-3 at No. 2, and Gordon prevailed 6-2, 6-4 at No. 3, both completed outdoors. MDI averted the shutout with a 5-7, 7-5, 1-0 (12-10) victory at first doubles by seniors Riley Donahue and Caden Braun. That was shortened to a 10-point tiebreaker in lieu of a third set because the overall outcome no longer was in doubt.

Yarmouth junior Chris Auger and sophomore John Nicholas came up short in that match Wednesday, but their victory in the regional semis against Greely was the difference in a 3-2 victory.

“We had a young team this year and they really came together to get to this point,” said Yarmouth Coach Gabe Gordon, who had been Shardlow’s assistant since 2018. “So many different players that didn’t even get a chance to play (Wednesday) got a chance to contribute to the season. We had to rely upon one another.”

As for the design inspiration, Schumacher said Shardlow told his players that regardless of the score, to consider each point to be starting at love all, “because it gets your mental space back in ground zero for the point,” Schumacher said. “But it also is a good signifier to just, you know, Love All.”

In Class C, Waynflete swept singles without dropping a set. Junior Jeff Adey won 6-2, 6-0 after seniors Basil DiBenedetto (6-0, 6-4) and Max Shurman (6-4, 6-2) finished their matches. Sebby Ovigele and Noah Stern-Rich started the ball rolling with a 6-3, 6-4 victory at second doubles, and Andrew Rogers and Jules Kirby – who each played for Waynflete’s lacrosse team this spring – delivered the clincher at first doubles, 6-3, 3-6, 6-4.

Adey’s older brothers, Ben and Matt, also played for Waynflete Coach Jeff Madore, so Adey knows all about the pressure of keeping alive the string of championships.

“It’s always a looming number at the beginning of the season,” he said. “During the regular season you don’t really think about it, but when you get here, that’s when it starts to kick in and you feel it a little bit.”

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