The Boothbay Region High School boys varsity tennis team was able to compete against the best players in the conference and sent one player forward to the state tournament.

The Saturday, May 17 boys state singles qualifying tournament was played at the Kennebec Valley Tennis Association in Augusta. The Boothbay Region squad, which consisted of Dan Drummond, Ray Perry and Nick Gorey competed against players from Class A, B and C schools for the Round of 48 State Tournament.

Coach Mark Gorey said in a release that players needed to get out to early leads, because unlike regular-season match play, the tournament features eight-game pro set matches, opposed to 10-game matches.

"Dan surged ahead, 5- 0, then lost several games in a row, before closing the match out," Gorey wrote. "In his second round match, Dan came up against the third seed (out of eight) in the Region 3 Draw, Zack Disch of Waterville.

"As always, Dan fought for every point, and earned the respect of his opponent, despite the 8-1 score. When we shook hands at the end of the match, Disch complimented Dan’s down the T-kick serve, specifically, as difficult to deal with; Dan aced the third seed twice."

Perry, who relies on slice shots, was matched up against Morse's Thomas Jarmusz with a topspin technique, so the match was a clash of styles, Gorey wrote. Although the final was 8-0 in favor of Jarmusz, the match was closer than the final tally.

Nick Gorey, who was seeded fourth had to fight his way not only through tough opponents, but with troubles with his serve, forehand and footwork.

He was matched-up against Camden Hill's Matt Morse, who was the second-ranked player, and won, 8-5. Gorey then faced the top seed, Erskine Academy's Dominic Pizzo in a best two-out-of-three match.

Gorey was able to take the first two sets, 6-2 and 6-1 to enter the Maine Principal Association’s State Singles Tournament, which will be May 30 at Colby College.