AUBURN — When Maddie Roy learned two days ago she’d be playing third singles Friday afternoon, she was nervous.

If she knew then what she knows now, nervous would have been an understatement.

The freshman’s first singles match proved to be a memorable one. She battled Edward Little’s Shaylin Collins for more than three hours Friday before finally earning the win through three sets and a tie-breaker.

“I’ve been really nervous,” said Roy, who had been playing mostly doubles this season. “I know singles players are really good. I’ve been practicing with the other singles players at practice. I think they taught me a lot.”

Roy’s win was part of a 4-1 Lewiston victory over the Red Eddies. Both teams came into the match with 1-3 records.

“It’s tough when you have all new girls,” said Lewiston coach Anita Murphy, who has just two seniors on the squad. ” You have to start somewhere.”

The Blue Devils’ boys’ team also topped EL by a 4-1 score. Lewiston is now 3-2 while the Red Eddies dropped to 0-5.

“I think we have a little momentum,” Lewiston boys’ coach Tom Leblond said. “Next week’s going to be a big week, so we’ll see how it goes.”

Roy was pressed into singles action because Kayla Letourneau was out of town for her brother’s graduation. Murphy mulled over her options and chose Roy.

“I know Maddie doesn’t really like to play doubles,” said Murphy. “So I said, ‘I’m going to make you play singles.’ I told her, ‘I think you’re a better singles player,’ and she said, ‘I am.'”

Roy won her first set 6-3 but then fell behind as Collins built a 5-2 advantage in the second set.

“I got pretty confident after the first set,” said Roy. “So I think I decided I could relax a little bit, but then I realized I couldn’t.”

Roy battled back and nearly won the second set, but Collins emerged with the 7-6 win in a tie-breaker.

“It was tough,” said Roy. “I thought I was going to win the tie-breaker. Then I knew I had to play another six-plus games. It was just exhausting. I just fought. I just decided I wasn’t going to quit.”

Roy won the third set 6-3 to the cheers of her teammates and friends and family. Even Collins appeared glad it was over despite falling short in a valiant effort of her own.

“It’s great,” said Roy. “I feel very proud that people are proud of me.”

In other singles matches, Kirsty Beauchesne defeated EL’s Rachel Libbey, 6-0, 6-1. The Red Eddies took the second singles match with Meaghan McDonough beating Becca Michaud, 6-3, 6-4.

In doubles, Lewiston swept. Jenessa Talarico and Claudia Dionne beat Alexis Leclerc and Jordan Lau, 6-0, 6-2. In second doubles, the pair of Kenzie Labadie and Tiffany Bailey beat Maddy Roy and Arielle Moreau, 6-1, 6-0.

The highlight for the Lewiston boys was a win from the doubles team of Tyler Houle and Karter Carney. They beat Ben Davis and Ryan Libbey, 6-2, 6-4.

“Today was great for us because we won our first doubles match,” said Leblond. “We hadn’t won any doubles matches yet. We came close against Mt. Ararat. So this was good for our doubles to get some confidence.”

EL won the other doubles match. Tynan Collins and Patrick Buzza beat Cam Boucher and Peter Tarabassi, 6-4, 6-3.

In singles play, Bryan Hall and Evan Gosselin each won hard-fought matches. Hall beat Navid Rohani, 6-2, 7-6 with a 7-1 tie-breaker. Gosselin won his third singles match. He beat Adam Lebrun 6-3, 3-6, 6-3. Alex Beaudoin won in straight sets, beating Michal Cwik.

“He’s won four matches in a row now,” said Leblond of Beaudoin. “Our singles players are pretty solid. The idea is to just keep getting better.”

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