LEWISTON – Clinching matches has become a habit of sorts for Alli Bleakney, and starting Wednesday, the matches started getting that much more important thanks to the advent of the playoff season.
Despite dropping the first set 7-5, Bleakney rallied to win the second and third 6-2, 6-1, defeating Lindsey Ford and pushing the Lewiston High School girls’ tennis team over the edge in its first-round playoff match against Messalonskee at Bates College’s Merrill Auditorium. Bleakney’s match win made the score 3-0 and the Blue Devils went on to win 5-0.
“I was a bit nervous in the first set,” said Bleakney. “I was up 4-1 and she started hitting a lot of hard, deep shots and came back on me. In the second and third sets, I moved back a step and started to take a little bit of pace off the ball, and that seemed to help.”
Lewiston officials moved the match indoors earlier in the afternoon due to an impending rain storm that soaked the area. Neither team plays regular matches on the indoor surface, which at Bates is rubberized, and early on in the match some of the players had a bit of trouble adjusting to the different lighting.
“It took a while to adjust to the background and the lighting,” said Lewiston doubles player Beth Melanson. “That had something to do with the slower start. The timing on the ball and being able to place it was a bit off.”
Melanson and partner Roxanne Healey, playing at No. 1 doubles, were the second match of the day to finish for Lewiston. The pair defeated Sam Godfrey and Liz McCosterie 6-4, 7-6 (1).
“They came to net on us and it took a bit to adjust to that,” said Melanson. “They were a good team.”
Lewiston started the match off with a win at No. 2 doubles as Amanda Bergeron and Jessica Roy dispatched Jess Boutin and Amanda Sawyer 6-4, 6-0. Healey and Melanson followed, and Bleakney clinched the match.
Two seniors, Katie A. Morin and Amy Sarrazin rounded out the scoring for the Blue Devils with straight set wins over Shauna Hasenfus and Sarah Mathes, respectively. Morin’s match ended in a 6-2, 6-3 victory, while Sarrazin cruised to a 6-2, 6-1 decision.
Comments are no longer available on this story