After cruising through the season’s first seven matches with 5-0 victories in each, the Gorham boys tennis team hit a bump in the road last Wednesday at Cheverus, falling 3-2.

Two days later on Friday, the Rams got back on track. Hosting Marshwood, which also entered last Friday’s match with a 7-1 record and a higher Heal Point ranking than the Rams, Gorham tallied wins in the first three matches, clinching the win. The final score was 3-2, as the Hawks pulled out the final two matches.

In the Class A West Heal Points released Tuesday, Gorham is ranked third, behind Windham and Cheverus. Marshwood is fourth.

“It’s good to get the confidence back up for these kids,” said Gorham coach Viet Ly. “Marshwood is a good team. They’re a young team like we were two years ago and they should really do well in the future.”

The Rams are now a veteran team, with six seniors playing in the top seven spots. And those seniors got the job done on Friday.

Gorham No. 1 singles player Aaron Bergeron used an excellent serve and aggressive play to down Mike Perchonok 6-1, 6-1. After Bergeron lost the first game, he won the next 10, stretched over the two sets. The match was the first to finish.

“I was coming off a rough match against Cheverus,” Bergeron said. “I guess my mental game wasn’t set yet, but I figured it out.”

Bergeron dropped a three-set match against Cheverus after winning the first set. He said for him, the key is finding simply playing hard without thinking too much.

“When I get in a zone I don’t think much, I just play,” Bergeron said. “That helps me quite a bit. When I over think things, it gets ugly.”

In No. 2 singles, Isaac Pease gave Gorham a 2-0 lead after he topped Tad Olsen 6-0, 6-4. After dominating in the early going, Pease allowed Olsen to creep back in during the second set before putting him away.

“(The key was) just relaxing and not rushing shots,” Pease said. “At a couple of points, I was trying to hit it too hard and finish it too early. Just keeping the rally going until I had a better opportunity to put it away (was important).”

Soon after Pease won, the No. 1 singles team of Eric Custeau and Jake Shorty secured victory for the Rams, defeating Tyler Billipp and Tyler Hickey 6-3, 6-2.

In No. 3 singles, Gorham’s Kyle Reinheimer lost a three-set battle to Parker Towle 1-6, 6-2, 3-6. In No. 2 doubles, Kiet Thai and Logan Marshall (a freshman and the sole non-senior for Gorham) fell to Josh Bland and Dan Dwyer 4-6, 2-6.

Gorham finished seventh in Western Maine Class A last year, bowing out of the playoffs in the quarterfinals to Windham. With much of that team back, the Rams have high expectations for the playoffs, but are also aware of how easily a season can end in the tournament.

“Honestly, I think we’re capable of making it to states if things go well,” Bergeron said. “But we’re also capable of losing in the first round. We’ve just got to take it one match at a time.”

With school finished for most of the seniors at Gorham High, Pease said he and his classmates can focus strictly on tennis for the next few weeks.

“We’ve been practicing hard,” Pease said. “A lot of our singles (players) are playing against each other and it’s competitive tennis, so we’re making each other better. We’re playing the more difficult teams near the end, so it’s gearing us up and getting us ready to face anyone in the playoffs.”

And that loss to Cheverus? The Rams may have lost the match, but they didn’t lose the lesson.

“I’m glad to get something out of that match,” Ly said. “We didn’t get the victory, but it did wake up a lot of the guys. I’m glad we did lose in the regular season, because in the playoffs you only get one chance. (The loss) gets the tennis back into them. Now they know they have to work a little harder.”