The No. 1 seeds in the upcoming MPA team tennis tournament have been handed out, and this year comes with an asterisk: Advance at your own risk.

Two traditionally strong local squads – and one surprise from last season – have earned top seeds in the tournament, but are faced with a long and treacherous road to their respective conference finals.

And no road is more perilous than that the Lewiston boys’ team must travel in search of a seventh consecutive state Class A title.

“Mt. Ararat, Brunswick and Gardiner can all beat up in this draw,” Lewiston coach Ron Chicoine said. “And we can beat all of them; we’ve proven that. I think it’s true that it’s very jumbled this year.”

The Blue Devils edged Bangor for the top seed in Eastern Class A in the final Heal Points after the teams finished with identical 12-0 records. Brewer, at 10-2, likewise edged Mt. Ararat, also 10-2. That sets up a Lewiston vs. Mt. Ararat regional semifinal, should both teams win their first-rounders.

“It’s honestly probably a bit worse for them,” Chicoine said. “At least we will get to play at home, and take whatever advantage that is with us.”

Lewiston upended Mt. Ararat twice during the regular season, 4-1 and 3-2 in two tight, down-to-the-wire matches. The second of those, on Tuesday, ended after Ben McDonough outdueled Josh Dennison 6-4 in the third set, with the rest of both teams looking on.

“It was tough to beat them twice, never mind having to do it three times,” Chicoine said.

The Lewiston coach, whose team has won 103 of the 104 matches it has played during his tenure, also feels the southern half of the KVAC is stringer this season, and any other potential opponents the Devils may face would likely come from the pool of teams they’ve already seen. Two of those – Gardiner and Brunswick – lost to Lewiston 3-2 this season, too.

The top-seeded Winthrop girls finished their MVC schedule a perfect 12-0, and again earned the top seed in Western Class C. The Ramblers’ reward? A potential Western C semifinal date with Western Maine Conference power Waynflete, which finished fourth at 10-2.

“You try not to look ahead at this point, and just take it one match at a time,” Winthrop coach Louis Gingras said. “If the girls stay focused then we should move on to the semis. We’ve stressed to our doubles teams how important it’s going to be to try to get those two points, to take some of the pressure off our singles.”

The Ramblers have had few close calls this season, and will likely be giving up a point at No. 1 singles. Waynflete’s top player is Christine Ordway, the top-ranked high school player in Maine.

Winthrop’s boys’ squad, meanwhile, drew Dirigo in Round 1, and if one conference rival wasn’t enough, the Ramblers would then face, if seeds held, No. 2 Monmouth, last year’s surprise Western C finalist.

Monmouth, meanwhile, didn’t sneak up on anyone this time around. The Mustangs went 9-3 and edged Winthrop for the No. 2 seed and home-court advantage in a potential meeting.

“The teams we draw are all teams we’ve defeated 5-0 at some point this season,” Monmouth coach Tyler Hunt said. “It’s not going to be an easy task, because they’re all good teams.”

Waynflete’s boys, led by local products Brandon Marshall and Devin Van Dyke, are the top seed in the Western C draw.

Lewiston’s girls weren’t afforded any favors, either. The top-seeded Devils’ road may include KVAC nemesis Brunswick, which earned the No. 5 seed and a date with No. 4 Hampden. Lewiston’s first match will be against the winner of the Mt. Blue-Messalonskee matchup.

“It’s a whole new season. We start over,” Lewiston girls’ coach Anita Murphy said. “(Being No. 1) is nice, but that lasts only a day or two. It all starts over.”

Oak Hill’s wishes almost came entirely true for its girls’ team, too. The Raiders avoided most early-round matchups with bracket-busting WMC teams. After a first-round matchup with 6-6 Freeport, the Raiders would see MVC champion Lisbon before a potential date in the final with prohibitive favorite Falmouth (12-0).

The Mountain Valley and Lisbon boys didn’t get so lucky. Despite a 12-0 record, the Falcons drew the No. 2 seed in Western B behind Lincoln Academy, and a first-round date with No. 7 Greely (7-5). Should the Falcons get by the Rangers, a date with either Falmouth or Cape Elizabeth awaits.