Julia and Abby Svor and Mya Vincent advance in state singles tournament

LEWISTON — The Lewiston and Edward Little girls tennis teams have the only three area players who reached the Round of 16 in the state singles tournament.

The Blue Devils have both Svor sisters, Abby and Julia, moving on, while sophomore Mya Vincent advanced for the Red Eddies. Vincent’s cousin, Molly, made it to the second round before bowing out Friday.

Mya Vincent won her tournament opener with 6-1, 6-4 victory over Lexi Thompson of Mattanawcook Academy. In the second round, Vincent defeated Clarice Bell of Orono 7-5, 6-3.

The key to Vincent’s second-round win was her patience after a long first set.

“I was relatively consistent and it helped me finish off the match; it was a battle,” Vincent said. “That first set was pretty painstaking.”

Vincent takes on Morgan Warner of Waynflete on Saturday.

Molly Vincent took out Gracyn Mick of Falmouth 6-4, 6-3.

“This morning I was really consistent. I just kept hitting more balls back, and after a while I figured out the drop shot and that came in clutch,” Molly Vincent said.

In the second round, she drew the fourth overall seed in the tournament, Caitlin Cass of Lincoln Academy. Cass won 6-0 and 6-1.

“I am so proud of them to make this far, I was hoping Molly was going to beat that girl from Lincoln Academy,” Edward Little girls coach Kim Clark. “She did the best she could. She didn’t give up, and that’s the thing with my girls, they don’t give up, no matter what; if they get down a set, they just come back fighting.”

Julia and Abby Svor both earned first-round byes as two of the 12 seeded players in the girls tournament. Abby is the No. 8 seed and Julia is No. 11.

Abby Svor defeated Luna Smith-Meja of Greely 6-4, 6-2.

After getting a few games under her belt in the first set, Svor found her rhythm.

“I wasn’t expecting to play so late; waiting around didn’t make it any better,” Abby Svor said. “Once I got a few games in, I got comfortable.”

She was supposed to play at 5:15 p.m., but didn’t get on the court for her match until 6:15 p.m. due to so many earlier matches lasting longer than expected.

Abby Svor’s opponent in the Round of 16 is Anna Barnes of Brunswick.

Julia Svor, meanwhile, battled back in her match against Olivia Nixon. Svor lost the first set 7-6 (3) then won the the second set 6-1. The third set was decided by a 10-point tiebreaker with Svor winning 10-5.

Julia Svor said she noticed Nixon wearing down as the match progressed.

“I saw she was hurting, she was stretching her arm, I knew she was a little weak from that but I just had to keep going,” Julia said.

Julia Svor will face Inga Zimba of Waterville on Saturday morning.

The Round of 16 and quarterfinals will be played Saturday. The winners will return to Lewiston High School for the semifinals and finals on Monday.

Blue Devils coach Anita Murphy is glad the Svor sisters, who are seniors, reached the Round of 16.

“That was my goal, I wanted both to make it to the Round of 16,” Murphy said. “I am so happy for the both of them.”

BEAUDIN GOES DOWN SWINGING

St. Dom’s senior Alec Beaudin fell in his first-round match to Wisdom’s Jordan Clavette. The first set went the distance, with Clavette winning 7-6 (0), and Beaudin took the second set 6-0.

Clavette took the tiebreaker 10-8.

“He got a lot of shots back (for points),” Beaudin said. “That’s giving a lot of credit to him, he played really well. I felt like I played really well, too, and the score reflected that. We played some hard tennis and he had the edge.”

TOUGH DRAW FOR COUGARS

Mt. Blue has been solid in team tennis this season but had a tough day in the singles tournament.

The Cougars’ top player, Mike Ferrari, lost in 6-0, 6-0 to Mt. Desert Island’s Westy Granholm.

“I think what didn’t go well for me is I didn’t stick with technique that I wanted to do. And I have to give props to (Granholm), he play very (well),” Ferrari said. “I wasn’t on my A-game; it was a really hot day, a beautiful day. There’s going to be off days, and I had an off day at a crucial time.”

Also for Mt. Blue, Kaden Allen, who normally plays doubles was defeated, 6-3, 6-4 by Koa Barrett of Ellsworth. Will Best of Yarmouth defeated Mt. Blue’s Ayden Beisaw 6-0, 6-0.

The Cougars aren’t accustomed to the level of skill they faced Friday.

“These guys have a lot of control and speed on the ball, and we don’t see a lot of that in central Maine,” Mt. Blue coach Zac Conlogue said. “Overall, it was a great day. We are thankful to be here and it was great exposure for our guys.”

RAMBLERS OUSTED IN FIRST

The Winthrop boys team had two state participants Friday, Noah Grube and Josh Deanda-Whaley. Grube battled in his match, dropping the first set to Yarmouth’s Andi Coba 6-1 but Grube won the second set, 7-6 (4) before losing the 10-point tie breaker 1-0 (7).

Josh Deanda-Whaley lost in straight sets to Thornton Academy’s Kohei Sato 6-2, 6-3.

For the Winthrop girls, Hannah Duley lost to Greely’s Emma Lindsay 6-1, 6-1.

“I feel like the score doesn’t really reflect how close (the match) was,” Duley said. “It was very close, but she got the shots on most of (the close games). There were good cross-court (shots).”

OTHERS FALL IN FIRST ROUND

Three other area players were defeated in the first round:

• Hanni Johnson of Spruce Mountain bowed out to Sydney Loring of Old Town, 6-2, 6-3.

• Hayden Adams of Dirigo lost to Oliver Bois of Hampden Academy, 6-0, 6-1.

• Jonah Chen of Edward Little fell to Waterville’s Owen Evans, 6-2, 6-0.