LEWISTON – It just wasn’t meant to be for Lewiston’s Chantalle Lavertu.

The senior tennis player found herself in a familiar position Monday, battling hard against a solid opponent in the state singles semifinals.

For the fourth consecutive season, Lavertu reached the state semifinal round, and for the fourth consecutive season, her run in the tournament ended there. In a two-set match that lasted more than an hour and a half, freshman Kasia Jania of Scarborough outlasted Lavertu 6-3, 6-1 to advance into the afternoon final.

“Chantalle’s really athletic, so one of the things I had to do was definitely keep the balls in play,” Jania said. “She has good aggression and moving everything around, she’ll get to everything, so I needed to make sure not to make mistakes.”

“At first I tried working it cross-court and hitting behind her, then slicing it, hitting drop shots, lobbing,” Lavertu said, “but the basic execution, I didn’t think I handled as well today.”

Lavertu was in a familiar position. In 2006, she lost in the semifinal to Christine Ordway of Waynflete. In 2007, it was Hallsey Leighton of Falmouth who beat her, and last year Jania’s sister, Camille (now a starting singles player at Harvard University) took out Lavertu.

“I knew what I was in for, but I was really hoping to make it to the final at least in my last year,” Lavertu said. “I think that’s what getting me right now.”

Jania had control of the match from the beginning, thanks to a mix of solid groundstrokes and an uncanny ability to run down even what appeared to be sure winners off of Lavertu’s racket.

“It wasn’t as much playing tennis, and who had the best strokes out there,” Jania said. “I think it was more mentally, who could hold out the longest. I think we were both tentative to start, and it was a battle of who could hold up the longest.”

Jania went ahead 5-0 in the first set, but Lavertu battled back to win three in a row before Jania closed out the last game of the opening set for a 6-3 victory.

In the second, having lost three of four games, Jania regained control.

“By getting those first few games, it made me more comfortable within myself,” Jania said.

“She played a great match,” Lavertu said. “I tried to mix things up, but she just kept getting everything in.”

Jania closed out the second set by a 6-1 count, earning a spot in the final against Ordway, who dispatched freshman Annie Criscione of Falmouth 6-0, 6-1 in about 40 minutes.

In the final, Ordway roared out to a 5-2 lead in the first set and edged Jania 6-4. Jania fought back in the second set for a 6-4 win after Ordway led 4-3, but Ordway proved to be too much in the final set, earning her third title with a 6-4 third-set victory.

On the boys’ side, Brandon Thompson of Waynflete breezed through the first part of his match against Tom Dillman of Greely and earned a berth in the final with a 6-0, 6-1 victory. Mt. Ararat’s Mike Hill, the tournament’s top seed, ousted Medomak Valley’s Joaquin Perez-Marsa 6-2, 6-4, setting up another finals appearance.

In the final, Hill overcame Thompson 6-3, 6-3 to win his third consecutive title.

Hill and Ordway are now each three-time state singles champions. The last time a girl won more than two in her career was in the late-1990s, when Karolina Pierko took four in a row for Biddeford from 1996-1999. On the boys’ side, Eric Blakeman of North Yarmouth Academy, won four in a row from 1987-1990.