LEWISTON – Depth is good.

Case in point: The Winthrop High school girls’ tennis team.

Elaine Theriault has been the top performer for most of the season for the Ramblers, who have started the season with a sparkling 8-0 record. On Wednesday, she played at No. 2, while Kelsey Ouellette paced the court at No. 1 singles.

It hardly mattered, as Ouellette dismantled Ali Preble of Wiscasset, while Theriault took care of business at No. 2.

“They’ve been very competitive,” Winthrop coach Louis Gingras said. “They had a challenge match (Tuesday), and Kelsey won. We’ve been lucky here to have dedicated coaches and people helping out with the program over the years to build that depth.”

The talented players don’t hurt, either.

“Sometimes they get frustrated with each other, but they do work well with each other in general,” Gingras said. “They help each other on certain aspects of their game, too. It’s a great thing for the whole team.”

Like mother, like son

If there was ever any doubt that Ron Chicoine is, in fact Anita Murphy’s son, one only has to watch the two coach their respective teams at Lewiston High School.

“This is going to be tough,” Chicoine said Tuesday, as his team warmed up with Brunswick on Tuesday. “I don’t know if we can pull this one off.”

The first hint that Chicoine might have been worried a bit too much came at No. 2 singles. Inconsistent as he’s been this season, Ben McDonough ounce again proved to be clutch in the bigger matches, ousting his opponent without losing a game.

“I’m feeling a bit better,” Chicoine said.

It helped, too, that his first doubles tandem won its first set, as did No; 3 singles player Scott Gagne, along with his No. 2 doubles team.

In the final match, Mike Butler put the exclamation point on the day with a win over Brunswick No. 1 Mats Haaland.

“It went in as 5-0, but you know, it was a lot closer than that,” Chicoine said.

On the other end of the tennis complex, Murphy watched her girls play in what will likely be their toughest match of the season, also against the Dragons.

“I don’t know,” Murphy said. “They’re really, really good.”

Brunswick is good, no doubt.

But the Devils proved that they are still the toast of Eastern A on Tuesday, taking care of the Dragons 5-0 on the girls’ side, and 5-0 on the boys’ side.

“The score sometimes doesn’t reflect how close it was,” Murphy said.

Sound familiar?

Undefeated and still going

With much of the focus on the Class A Lewiston Blue Devils, there’s a Class B team kicking around the region that has yet to lose a match this season, too.

Meet the Mountain Valley Falcons’ boys’ tennis team.

Ernie Matthews has a solid hold on the top of the Falcons’ lineup. Most folks around the region may know Matthews as one of the best wrestlers to ply his trade in recent years, having earned wall-region honors this winter. Travis Ruff, another multi-sport athlete, hold down the No. 2 position. Ruff earns accolades in both football and basketball, when not chasing down tennis balls.

Winless, but …

You can’t always judge a good varsity tennis program by the number of athletes out for the team each year, but it’s a good bet that if a program is down, and shows big numbers, good things aren’t far around the corner.

That’s the case this year at Edward Little.

The Eddies’ girls’ team has yet to win a match this season, but at the same time, has turned out 27 athletes this season, one of the biggest squads anyone can remember.

“The best thing is, we only have three seniors,” EL coach Shawn Rice said. “A lot of the girls have improved tremendously in just the short time we’ve had this season, since this is when they all primarily play. It’s very encouraging.”