Foxcroft Academy wins 2 regional tennis titles as boys and girls advance to state tourney
It has taken Ryan Dankert 24 years to take one of his Foxcroft Academy tennis teams to a state final.
And now he is taking two.
His second-seeded Foxcroft Academy boys team upended top seed Mount Desert Island 4-1 on Saturday to capture the Class B North title and punch its ticket to the state final, where it will meet defending three-time champ Yarmouth.
The third-seeded girls team came from behind to upset top seed Waterville 3-2 and it will now take on Greely High of Cumberland Center in the state title match.
Both will begin at 12:30 p.m. Wednesday at Apex Racket and Fitness in Portland.
The Greely girls won state titles in 2014, ’15 and ’17.
In the other state championship matchups, the Orono boys will take on Waynflete of Portland, which has won 14 consecutive state C titles including one in 2019 over Orono, and the defending state champ Washington Academy girls from East Machias will face Maranacook of Readfield, which is looking for its first state championship.
The C matches will start at 8:30 a.m. Wednesday.
The A state finals will begin at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday with the Skowhegan boys seeking their first state title against a Falmouth team that won three in a row from 2017-19.
On the girls side, Brunswick, 2021 state champ and runner up to Kennebunk a year ago, will face Falmouth, which last hoisted the state championship plaque in 2018 to cap a string of five consecutive crowns.
“I am absolutely thrilled,” said the 49-year-old Dankert. “Win, lose or draw, I am proud of the kids and proud of the school. I couldn’t be happier. We’re going to try to make it happen.”
The teams have taken two different routes to the regional championships.
“The boys team is very different from the girls team. The boys team is made up of all boarding students while the girls team has just one,” Dankert said.
His boys team has five Spaniards and one apiece from Vietnam, Mexico and Germany.
“They had a lot of prior tennis experience before they came to Foxcroft,” Dankert said. “They are very talented.”
They are all in their first year at the Dover-Foxcroft-based school except Carlos Rodriguez, who is from Spain and is in his second year at the school.
But Rodriguez, who plays on the second doubles team with fellow Spaniard Pablo Rosano, won’t be able to participate on Wednesday because he has to go to New York to take a test that will enable him to graduate.
The senior will be replaced by sophomore Sung Woo Cho, who is from Germany and has played in a couple of matches during the season. Partner Rosano is a sophomore.
Jerry Nguyen from Vietnam is the Ponies’ No. 1 singles player and is a sophomore. He reached the state singles semifinals where he lost to eventual champ Xander Barber of Falmouth, who is ranked No. 8 in the country among 18-unders and is originally from North Carolina.
Junior Fernando Calderon is from Mexico and is the team’s No. 2 singles player with Spanish sophomore Nico Taracena being their No. 3. His sister, Maria, played for the girls team last year.
The first doubles team includes senior Eduardo Lopez and sophomore Biel Trullas, both from Spain.
For the girls, sophomore Sol Vidal from Spain is the top singles player and is in her first year at Foxcroft Academy.
“Her game has really improved over the past couple of months,” said Dankert, a Wisconsin native.
Junior Annabelle Holman and senior Annie Raynes are their No. 2 and No. 3 singles players after being FA’s second doubles tandem a year ago.
The girls’ first doubles team features sophomores Mady Kimball and Shaelyn Jankunas, who were on the junior varsity team a year ago.
The second doubles team is made up of sophomore Emma Bither and junior Sam Ossenfort, who are new to tennis this year after playing basketball and softball.
“They have picked it up quick,” Dankert said.
Dankert admitted that he didn’t think his teams would advance this far but said they are playing their best tennis of the season now and have great team chemistry.
“They support each other very well. There is no animosity and there aren’t any conflicts,” said Dankert.