CARIBOU, Maine — Gabe Rand pulled off a mild seedings upset Saturday to join two of his Caribou boys’ varsity tennis teammates and three Caribou girls players in advancing to the state singles tennis tournament.
The Region I singles tennis tournament was played at Caribou High School.
The state tourney early rounds will be played May 25 and 26 at Deering Oaks Park in Portland. The semifinals and finals will be held May 28 at Bates College in Lewiston.
Gabe Rand, a Caribou High School junior, defeated Brandon Sytulek of Van Buren in a mild upset Saturday to win his Region I singles tennis bracket and advance to the state tourney later this month.
(Courtesy of Sha Lam Photography)
Rand, seeded fifth, defeated No. 4 Brandon Sytulek of Van Buren, 6-1, 6-0 to take his bracket. Viking teammates Parker Deprey and Alec Cyr also advanced with straight set wins. Deprey, the No. 1 seed, stopped Jonathan Blanchette of Fort Kent, 6-1, 6-0; while No. 3 Cyr bested Niko Naranja, also of Fort Kent, 6-0, 6-3.
Presque Isle’s Andre Daigle, seeded second, was the other boys player to move on to the state tourney. He clinched a berth by beating Nolan Porter of Houlton in straight sets, 6-1, 6-3.
For the girls, the seeds held true as No. 1 Gabrielle Marquis, No. 2 Ashley Matlock and No. 3 Hailey Holmquist, all of Caribou, won with ease.
Marquis blanked Tiffany Morrow of Van Buren, 6-0, 6-0; Matlock did not drop a single game against Fort Kent’s Cassidy Lovely, winning 6-0, 6-0; and Holmquist was near perfect in defeating PI’s Hana Boucher, 6-0, 6-1.
Sarah Pelletier, the No. 4 seed from Fort Kent, struggled to put away Houlton’s Rebecca Mooers but ended up prevailing, 7-5, 6-4.
Isaac Madore and Mason Young of Presque Isle, Devin Ivey and Tim Longfellow of Houlton, Brenton Soucy and Luc Perreault of Van Buren and Reece Voisine were other boys playing in Saturday’s tourney.
Dina Koretski and Madison Grant of Houlton, Emma Lajoie of Van Buren, Gaby Halley of Presque Isle, and Sydni Pelletier of Fort Kent were the girls competitors.
