PERRYVILLE — Sebastien Cousineau has taken the next step in his high school tennis career.
The Kent County sophomore is headed to the Class 1A state tournament as the East Region I champion in boys singles, just one year after being eliminated in the first round of regionals.
Cousineau has had a terrific spring, going 11-1 in singles — his only loss came during the dual-match season to highly regarded Jake Hershey of Easton, a two-time region champion in the Class 2A division — and repeating as the team MVP for the 8-4 Trojans.
Cousineau did not drop a set in the state-qualifying region tournament Saturday, May 10 at Perryville High School.
His only real test came early in the semifinal match against Sebastian Cornish of St. Michaels.
Cornish won the opening game and then battled back from a 4-1 deficit to deadlock at 5-all, before Cousineau won the next two games to close out the first set, 7-5.
Cousineau won the second set easily, 6-2.
“I think I just eased up a little too much” after going up 4-1 in the first set, Cousineau told The Evening Enterprise.
“I let him [Cornish] get the breaks back, but at the end of the set I finally locked in and won two in a row at 5-5.”
Cousineau said he “definitely tried to stay focused during the entire second set, no matter how large my lead became. I stayed calm and collected so that I could finish the job.”
He punched his ticket to states with a 6-2, 6-0 sweep of Colonel Richardson’s Jeffrey Lin in the title match.
He’s excited about being a region champion as only a sophomore.
“I think I really earned it after how I played,” he told The Evening Enterprise in a text message
Rain today pushed back the opening day of the state tournament to tomorrow [Friday, May 23], when Cousineau will face off against Liberty’s Jayden Venable, the North Region II champ.
The state tournament for all four classifications is being staged at Wilde Lake Tennis Club in Columbia.
Tournament officials are hoping to get all quarterfinal and semifinal matches in for Classes 1A, 2A, 3A and 4A on Friday, with all championship and consolation matches to be played on Saturday.
Cousineau is the only Trojan to qualify for states.
Senior Nina Fahrman and the mixed doubles team of sophomores Sophie Cousineau and Bjorn Birkmire were eliminated in their respective championship matches.
Sophie Cousineau is the twin sister of Sebastien.
To open defense of her 2024 singles title, Fahrman swept Colonel Richardson’s Carly Van Schaik in the semifinal round, 6-1, 6-4.
St. Michaels’ Tess Weller defeated Fahrman in a closely contested championship match, 7-5, 7-5.
Fahrman, the Trojans’ two-time team MVP, was seeking a third straight state tournament appearance. Two years ago she won the region title in girls doubles with Maritza Lopez.
St. Michaels’ Lexi Rockwell and Tommy Weller did not lose a game in their straight-set defeat of Kent County’s Sophie Cousineau and Birkmire in the mixed doubles bracket.
The Saints sent out a formidable pair. Rockwell was unbeaten at No. 1 girls singles this spring and Tommy Weller won the boys singles title at regionals last year when he defeated Sebastien Cousineau, 6-4, 7-6, (7-4), in the first round.
Sophie Cousineau and Birkmire had advanced with a 6-3, 6-0 first-round defeat of Carconia Brown and Joseph Liberti of Bohemia Manor and a 6-4, 6-1 defeat of Jilli Delgado and Isaac Phillips of Perryville in the semifinals.
In the first round of boys doubles, eventual champions Sean Kline and Miles Fox of St. Michaels eliminated Kent County seniors Robert Hague and Teo O’Brien, 6-0, 6-1.
During the dual-match season, Kline and Fox played No. 1 and No. 2 singles, respectively, and were unbeaten as a doubles team.
In girls doubles, Kent County freshman Emelia Karlick and first-year tennis player Aria Jones also had the unfortunate draw of the eventual champions in the first round. The Perryville team of Beth Rasa and Willow Morgen defeated Karlick and Jones in straight sets.
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St. Michaels won its fourth straight East Region I championship, totaling nine points. KCHS (five) was the runner-up, followed by Perryville (four).
