LEWISTON — Dropping the first set wouldn’t ordinarily concern Falmouth doubles partners Mary Hyland and Mia Cooney.

“We always start off super slow,” Hyland said, to which Cooney added without hesitation, “Oh, every time.”

That didn’t change for Falmouth’s No. 1 doubles team in the Class A South final Thursday at Bates College. But as they do so often, Hyland and Cooney recovered and helped second-seeded Falmouth defeat top-seeded Thornton Academy 4-1 to win its 10th consecutive regional title.

The Falmouth boys also advanced to Saturday’s state finals, knocking off defending state champion and top-seeded Thornton, 3-2. Both Falmouth teams and both Thornton teams went into their matches with 14-0 records.

In Class B, the Yarmouth boys edged Cape Elizabeth 3-2 and the Yarmouth girls lost 4-1 to top-seeded Greely, which is seeking its third state championship in four years.

The Waynflete boys matched the Falmouth girls with a 10th straight regional crown in Class C, beating top-seeded Boothbay Region, 5-0. The Waynflete girls, meanwhile, earned a 4-1 win over defending state champ St. Dom’s.

The victory for the Falmouth girls was their 156th straight, but the streak appeared in jeopardy when Hyland and Cooney dropped their first set, as did Falmouth’s No. 3 singles player, Amanda Watson.

“I knew we were going to have a tough No. 1 singles match,” Falmouth Coach Bill Goodspeed said. “I definitely didn’t want to go into that match 2-2.”

Maddy Joyce and Grace Dimick defeated Ky Nguyen and Yawen Liu 6-0, 6-2 at No. 2 doubles to give Falmouth a quick 1-0 lead. But the next two wins that would clinch the regional title didn’t come so easily.

Down 4-1 in the second set, Falmouth’s No. 2 singles player, Meredith Kelley, won five straight games to defeat Emma Nassif, 6-4, 6-4. Hyland and Cooney rallied to beat Cordelia Perry and Katie Shedd 3-6, 6-3, 6-0 for the clinching point.

Watson also came from behind to defeat Brianna Paul, 3-6, 7-5 (10-3). Thornton’s Eva Sachs beat Kate Kelley at No. 1 singles, 6-3, 7-5.

“After we clinched it, I just felt less tight,” Watson said. “Everyone knows we’re going to have individual losses so we just try to trust that we’re going to rally.”

But Watson said the real pressure isn’t in sustaining the winning streak, it’s in notching a 10th straight state championship. Falmouth will face Brunswick on Saturday at Colby College in Waterville.

“We’re just kind of over the individual wins thing – it’s just not sustainable,” Watson said. “Winning the state title is what matters.”

The Falmouth boys clinched their victory when No. 2 singles player Alex Klemperer defeated Balazs Balati, 7-5, 2-6, 6-3.

“I was tired but I just came out at the end and gave it my best,” Klemperer said. “The heat played a huge factor.”

With temperatures reaching the low 80s, the heat posed a challenge for players who dealt with a wet and cool spring. Falmouth Coach Bob McCully said more than half of Falmouth’s regular-season matches were held indoors because of rain.

“I don’t think we handled the heat particularly well today,” said McCully, whose team will play Lewiston in the state final. “I expected it to be tough but I didn’t expect it to be quite this close.”

Matt Adamowicz and Greyson Cohen of Falmouth defeated Caleb Richard and Jon Ma 6-2, 6-2 before Jack Xiao pulled Thornton Academy even with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Peter Stegemann. Falmouth’s other doubles tandem of Jordan Bruce and Trey Fallon earned a 6-2, 7-6 (4) victory over Asher Thompson and Adam Lovejoy.

In one of the most anticipated matchups of the day, Dariy Vykhodtsev of Thornton Academy defeated Nick Forester 6-3, 6-3, avenging a loss in the state singles semifinals.

“Those two are so evenly matched,” McCully said. “When the match is already decided, it’s hard to maintain your focus. You want to be with your teammates celebrating.”

Thornton was missing its No. 2 singles player, Jakub Jurasek.

“He was hurt for the better half of the season, so the lineup you saw today is the lineup we played with for seven or eight of our matches,” Thornton Coach Andrew Carlson said. “I think we could have used him today, but I don’t know if the result would have been different.”

In Class B, the fourth-seeded Yarmouth boys (10-5) avenged a 4-1 loss to No. 3 Cape Elizabeth (11-4) earlier this season. With the Clippers up 2-1, Igor Nikolic of Yarmouth defeated Ted Hall 6-3, 6-4 at No. 1 singles for the clincher.

“We played them earlier this year and lost, but we were playing at Cape with a heavy wind,” Yarmouth Coach Mark Marstaller said. “It was easier to play them without the wind – that made a big difference playing at a neutral site.”

Yarmouth’s other points came from Matt Clinton and the doubles team of Max Allen and Andrei Lougovtsov. Cape won No. 2 singles (Matt Galvin) and No. 1 doubles (Mac Brucker and Carter Brock).

Yarmouth will face Camden Hills in the state final.

The Greely girls (14-1) swept the doubles matches (Katie Steinberg/Jordan Bryant and Lea Schuepfer/Kaitlyn Thompson), and also won No. 2 and No. 3 singles (Kathryn Pare and Paige Evans) – all in straight sets. The Rangers will play Caribou on Saturday.

Yarmouth (9-6) got its point from Lana Mavor, the singles state champion.

In Class C, both Waynflete teams advanced to play George Stevens Academy on Saturday.

Singles players Brandon Ameglio, Thorne Kieffer and Jacob Greene, and the doubles teams of Nick Wagg and Shahao Liu, and Chris Register and Cooper Sherman all won for the Waynflete boys (14-1), who have won nine consecutive state titles – with eight of those wins coming against George Stevens.

The Waynflete girls (13-2) got points from Kiera MacWhinnie, Molly McNutt and both doubles teams – Sidara Cash-Sortwell and Chloe Fisher, and Randall Seder and Alma Canales. Bethany Hammond of St. Dom’s (10-5) won No. 1 singles.

Taylor Vortherms can be contacted at 791-6417 or:

tvortherms@pressherald.com

Twitter: TaylorVortherms

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