All-Region Girls Tennis Player of the Year: Mya Vincent, Edward Little

Mya Vincent, of Edward Little, returns the ball to Sofia Kirtchev of Falmouth during the state singles tournament semifinal match at Bates College in Lewiston in May. Andree Kehn/Sun Journal

Mya Vincent has always been blessed with strong support from family and coaches, according to Edward Little girls tennis coach Kirk Egge. Those strong bonds contributed to the senior’s success on the court this season.

Vincent went undefeated in the regular season and earned the No. 1 seed in the state singles tournament, and along the way, collected another Sun Journal All-Region Girls Tennis Player of the Year accolade.

“She’s got a lot of support, too,” Egge said. “I know in one of her matches, we had three previous coaches at her at the matches. It was great. She has a lot of support from her family, which is wonderful. They were present at a lot of the matches, so it was great to see.”

Vincent made it to the finals of the state tournament, where she lost to Brunswick’s second-seeded Coco Meserve 6-2, 3-6, 6-4 at Bates College.

This was Egge’s inaugural season as head coach, but he noticed one thing that really stood out for Vincent.

“Mya was very consistent,” he said. “She was coached by her father the previous year. … So she (had) a lot of top spins and was a very consistent player. You had to be mentally strong to do that. That is why she is one of the best players in the state.”

Back surgery prevented the recent Edward Little graduate from speaking for herself, but at the urging of Mya, her dad, Kevin Vincent, gladly represented her. He said Mya injured her back in February. The surgery was performed on a disc to stop the painful pinching of a nerve.

According to Kevin Vincent, Mya has set her sights on attending and playing tennis for Bates College in 2024. He added that she continues to recover and will spend this year training when she has healed.

“She graduated top five in her class, so she has quite a bright future there,” Kevin Vincent said. “It’s her grit and willingness to work hard (on the court). She’s very smart. She takes information and processes it quickly, as far as learning how to hit a stroke, learning to do things better than what she did before.

“She worked extremely hard all season long — I mean before the season, I should say. She was probably hitting three, four hours every day. I mean, she was really pushing it to the max, probably why she got injured.”

Egge added that Mya Vincent once told him how she has never played a home match at Auburn’s courts due to the construction of the new Edward Little High School.

“She has always played at Lewiston,” Egge said. “Part of the challenge is having a large team of girls and sharing it with Lewiston. Very appreciative at what Lewiston has done over these last years and sharing their court, but it is a struggle for us and obviously for Lewiston, too.”

Egge added that Vincent was a dedicated teammate to the many athletes who had never touched a racket.

“For me, that is always the story,” Egge said. “She’s a great player, but she is just a very kind and great teammate. She came to practice, and I would have her feeding balls or helping coach, how to serve and stuff like that because we really didn’t have anybody who could hit with her.”

“She is a wonderful kid,” Kevin Vincent said. “She is always willing to help.”