PORTLAND – A gaggle of Oak Hill tennis players packed through the front doors of the Racket and Fitness Center in Portland on Wednesday, immediately searching out the locker room.

They stuck together, moving in a pack.

Minutes later, that swarm shuffled through the door to the nine-court complex, squeezing past the metal supports between the netting dividing one bank of five courts from the other three.

“It’s weird,” one of the Oak Hill girls said to her coach after taking a few warm-up whacks. “The lighting is different.”

The Raiders, the No. 2 seed in Western Class B, had never played a team match indoors. They weren’t used to the skidding shots, the lack of contrast between the net and the mesh background, and the lack of wind resistance.

And they definitely weren’t used to the Falmouth girls.

The Yachtsmen, who placed their three singles players in the state singles quarterfinals, rode strong play from those girls and a stellar pair of matches from their doubles teams to a 5-0 win over Oak Hill in the Western Class B final, which Falmouth clinched in less than 50 minutes.

“Falmouth is a great team,” Oak Hill coach Jamie Boucher said. “They’re a good, deep team with a lot of talent.”

Falmouth has been building (and rebuilding) for this match for a while, and much of its top-end talent is younger. No. 1 singles player Annie Criscione and No. 3 Analise Kump are only freshmen, with senior Hallsey Leighton anchoring the middle of the singles lineup.

The Raiders’ trio of singles players – Samantha Wark, Hannah Langlois and Sara Lacroix – won a total of three games against the Falmouth girls, with Langlois earning a game in the second set against Leighton and Wark taking a game in each set against Criscione.

In doubles, Oak Hill’s Hannah Rancourt and Ambyr Provost fell 6-3, 6-0 to Melissa Keroack and Andie Doyle, while Lynnae Chaput and Darby Beaulieu dropped a 6-1, 6-1 decision to Emma Wilberg and Amanda Gallagher.

“This is the furthest the team has gone, boys or girls, at least since I’ve been here,” Boucher said. “It’s been a great season for them, and we couldn’t be prouder.”

On the boys’ side of Class B, Yarmouth edged Falmouth to earn a trip to the state title match on Saturday.

Rematch … and repeat

Monmouth Academy had been here before – but that didn’t make it any easier the second time around.

Devin Van Dyke and Brandon Thompson, two tennis players with Lewiston ties, won their matches at Nos. 1 and 2 singles – each in less than 50 minutes – to lead Waynflete to a crushing 5-0 win over the Mustangs in the Western Class C regional tennis final at the Racket and Fitness Center in Portland.

“You have to concentrate and treat every match the same,” Thompson said. “It’s hard sometimes, but that’s what you have to do to stay consistent.”

Monmouth started its season 3-3 and looked to be a shell of the team that also advanced to the Western Class C final.

“We had some players missing from some of those matches, and we just had a rough start,” Monmouth coach Tyler Hunt said. “Plus, we don’t have kids that play during the winter at all, so it took everyone a while to get their swings back.”

The Mustangs then rattled off eight wins in a row to run their record to 11-3, earning a berth – again – in the Western C final.

“I can’t be disappointed with the success the team had this season, and they showed up and battled hard again today,” Hunt said.

After Van Dyke bested Morgan Bergeron at No. 2 singles, Sam Cleaves and Eric Ordway put the Flyers on op 2-0 with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Richard Brassard and Corey Dyke. Ross Cummings clinched the match for Wayflete with a 6-3, 6-3 win at No. 3 singles, and Nate Niles and Henry Jorgensen made it 4-0 with a 6-3, 6-4 victory at No. 2 doubles over Ryan Baillargeon and Blake Hamel.

‘We’ll be back’

Molly Lindsey and Lauren McHatten just wouldn’t give in, even when their match was far from mattering in the overall team picture.

“They’re hanging tough,” Winthrop coach Lou Gingras said after the pair – Gingras’ No. 2 doubles tandem – dropped its first set, 7-5.

Lindsey and McHatten rallied for a 6-2 win in the second set, and sent the final Class C match of the morning session into a third set – the only three-set match in the Western Class C regional finals.

Like the rest of the matches, though, the Ramblers didn’t have enough against a steady Western Maine Conference team as North Yarmouth Academy ousted previously-unbeaten Winthrop, 5-0, to earn a berth in the Class C state championship game.

“No matter who we play, we have to respect our opponent and really focus on ourselves and the way we’re playing,” NYA coach Lorena Coffin. “They earned the right to be here, and we’d never seen them before.”

The Panthers, the No. 2 seeds in Western Class C, earned two early points from No. 1 singles player Thu-Trang Ho (6-0, 6-1 over Kelsey Ouellette) and their No. 1 doubles tandem of Cayla Marvil and Eliza Gercke (6-2, 6-2 over Katherine Spahr and Nikki Scott).

Sarah Jordan clinched the match for NYA at No. 3 singles with a win over Kelly Miles, and Anna Jaeger earned her team’s fourth point with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Elaine Theriault.

On the positive side for the Ramblers, the team’s entire lineup is projected to return next season, with three juniors and four sophomores gaining one more year of experience.

“We’re looking at being right back here next year,” Gingras said. “We feel like we have the team that we’ll be able to do that.”