Eric Morin, Thomas College’s top player, won back-to-back North Atlantic Conference player of week awards for the weeks ending March 29 and April 5 and added another player of the week honor Monday for the week that just ended.  In the first two weeks, he went 4-0 in both singles and in doubles competition for the Terriers. Last week, he was 4-0 again.

 He’s 10-3 in singles competition this season and 9-5 in doubles competition. Thomas sits 4-2 in NAC play and 9-6 overall. 

Scott Gagne, the No. 2 player for the University of Southern Maine Huskies, was recently named the Little East Conference Player of the Week for the week ending March 30, going 4-0 in singles competition and 2-0 in doubles.

For the season, he’s 8-2 in both singles and doubles as the Huskies sit in first place with a 4-0 record in conference and an 8-2 overall record. The Huskies wrap up the regular season with matches against Bridgewater State on Wednesday and Western Connecticut on Saturday.

“I felt good in both weekends we played,” Eric Morin said. “I was hitting the ball with confidence. It was good because I had some big wins down in South Carolina coming back up here and playing some people in our conference — it made made me play a lot better.”

The Terriers began the season in Hilton Head, S.C., where they played five matches, going 2-3 on the week.

Gagne also attributed his play this season to confidence.

“I think general confidence on the court can go a long way, because tennis is a very attitude-driven sport,” Gagne, the Huskies’ captain, said. “I have been in the right mindset all year. I think I have matured a lot mentally in the game, which is pretty vital in success.”

He was recruited to USM by Ron Chicoine, who was Lewiston’s coach when Scott and Eric were on the Blue Devils’ squad together. Chicoine coached Southern Maine from 2012-14.

When Thomas returned from its southern road trip, the Terriers’ first match was against Southern Maine on March 25. Morin and Gagne faced off in a doubles contest. Gagne and his doubles partner, Tyler Adams, defeated Morin and his partner, Tyler Small, 8-1.

Facing each other didn’t deter the friends from chatting it up during warm-ups.

“As we were warming up, if something funny happened on the court, we weren’t hesitant to joke about it,” Gagne said. “When the match started and the first serve went, then it became serious because you are representing your school.”

The only time the two met in singles competition was last season, when Morin won the match in three sets by the score of 4-6, 6-2, 6-1. Gagne has won the other three times they faced each other in doubles competition in their careers.

“It was a great match when I played against him; it was a lot of fun,” Morin said. “When we have chances in the summer we like to hit it around and joke about the matches we had against each other.”

The duo was part of the Lewiston team that only lost one match from 2008-2011. They also faced another high school teammate this season — Christopher Belanger, who plays for Castleton State. Gagne and Morin defeated Belanger in both disciplines this season.

“I don’t know anyone who plays with a bigger heart than Chris,” Gagne said. “He gives it his all. That’s another example, (where) we took the match seriously because we wanted to do our best to beat each other, but at the same time we are really good friends. There was a lot of joking around in that match, too.”

Both know their collegiate careers are coming down the stretch, but both remain focused for the remaining regular-season matches and conference tournament matches still to come.

“I have been very fortunate for the opportunities I have had, but I can’t help to be slightly nostalgic and think back to my state championship victories at Lewiston,” Gagne said. “Remembering the feeling of being satisfied with the wins and, mostly, being a part of a good group. That’s exactly what I have here again this year with a great group of guys.”

Morin hopes to play in various tournaments when his college career comes to a close.

“I am definitely going to miss it,” Morin said. “I’ve improved a lot in the past years at high school and college. It was really good competition and I hope to continue playing tennis in tournaments in the summer.”

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