LEWISTON – It’s a problem the Lewiston boys’ tennis team seems to have every year: Too many bodies, and too much talent to squeeze into just seven varsity positions.

This Saturday, after a pair of tough matches against Brunswick and Mt. Ararat, the Blue Devils’ depth will look to take center stage at the KVAC doubles tournament, hosted this year at the Lewiston tennis courts.

This year, the tournament, which highlights both the boys’ and girls’ doubles teams from each of the schools in the KVAC, is flighted.

There will be separate tournaments for the No. 1 doubles teams and No. 2 doubles teams from each school. In addition, schools with more than two doubles teams can enter a third and even a fourth squad, and that, too, will have its own flight.

Lewiston coach Ron Chicoine’s problem now is figuring out which set of doubles teams belong where.

“I had the top two doubles teams play each other this week, and they split,” Chicoine said. “Dead even. That’s a good thing.”

Good for Lewiston, anyway.

Tough assignments

The Edward Little High School boys’ tennis team took its lumps, as might have been expected, from rival Lewiston at home last Saturday.

That didn’t stop the Eddies’ top player from living up to his billing. EL won a total of 11 games in Saturday’s five matches, and senior Danny Gleason was responsible for five of them in a 6-3, 6-2 loss to Mike Butler.

“He’s a scrambler,” Lewiston coach Ron Chicoine said of Gleason. “He really made Mike work for it.”

Gleason and doubles player Mitch Snowe are the lone upperclassmen this spring for the Red Eddies, who got off to a 2-1 start prior to the Lewiston match despite belonging to the traditionally tougher of the two Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference divisions.

EL is forced to face Lewiston, Mt. Ararat, Brunswick and Gardiner twice, making for an uphill climb to the Eastern Class A playoffs.

“They went to a new schedule last year, and I think I liked the old one better, for us,” said EL coach Greg Vincent. “I didn’t mind seeing everybody once and getting to play some of the (northern) teams.”

Off to a good start

Several local tennis teams are starting the season off on the right foot. Aside from your traditional powers at Lewiston (both the boys and girls have started the season 3-0) and at Winthrop, the Dirigo girls, behind solid doubles play and a deep set of singles players, and the Mountain Valley boys are also among the ranks of the unbeaten.

The Lewiston girls play what is traditionally their toughest match of the season Thursday , though, against Brunswick, while the Lewiston boys face Mt. Ararat in their big match on the road Friday.

Winless? You’re not alone

As tough as it is to play the game of tennis, it’s just as hard – if not more so – to play when, despite your best efforts, you keep losing.

In an age of parity in sports in general, it’s rare you find a lot of teams at this stage of the season still waiting to record their first wins of the season.

Apparently, parity has yet to hit Maine high school tennis.

As of Wednesday, 24 different schools with tennis teams in Maine had yet to win a match on the girls’ side of things out of 92 teams. On the boys’ side, 24 of 87 teams have yet to put a mark in the win column.

Conversely, 20 girls teams have yet to lose a match in the early-going, along with 23 boys teams.

Staff Writer Kalle Oakes contributed to this notebook