LEWISTON — Enrollment pushed them up a classification. Weather pushed them back two days.
But once they get on a tennis court, nobody pushes around the boys and girls from Falmouth High School.
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The Falmouth girls extended their winning streak to 109 matches and the boys wrapped up their own undefeated season as both teams won Class A state championships Monday afternoon and evening on the campus of Bates College.
With two quick jumps and a squeal of delight that followed a final drop shot, Falmouth junior Olivia Leavitt shook hands with four-time state singles finalist Maisie Silverman of Brunswick. She then raced into the waiting arms of teammates as Falmouth celebrated a 5-0 sweep over the previously-unbeaten and defending state champion Dragons with early-evening shadows falling across the Wallach Tennis Center.
An hour earlier, Falmouth’s boys had wrapped up a 3-2 victory over Eastern Maine champion Mt. Ararat that wasn’t as close as the score appears. Falmouth clinched the match by racing to a 3-0 lead after dropping only one of 37 games between senior Brendan McCarthy (the singles state champion) and junior Aidan McGrory at second and third singles and senior Matt Hutcheon and freshman Trey Fallon at second doubles.
The insurmountable lead prompted Falmouth’s No. 1 singles player, senior Justin Brogan, to default at 1-1 in the first set of his match with Mt. Ararat freshman Nick Mathieu, a finalist in the singles tourney.
“I was prepared to go if it went 2-2, but I can’t afford to injure it again,” said Brogan, who has twice sprained his ankle this season and missed two playoff matches prior to the regional final. “If I do, I’m out for the whole summer.”
A year ago in the Class B girls finals, Falmouth won 3-2 over Waterville. Leavitt, also nursing an injury, defaulted in the first set at No. 1 singles after her team had clinched the match.
“It was a little bit disappointing, but I understand,” said Mathieu of Mt. Ararat. “He has a bad ankle. You could see it looked like he was in pain.”
Junior Trevor Mayo and senior Eric Knight won 6-3, 6-2 at first doubles for Mt. Ararat, which avenged early-season losses by beating Mt. Blue, Hampden Academy and Bangor in the regional tournament, each by a score of 3-2, to finish 10-6.
The girls match featured a reprise of the last two state singles finals between Leavitt and Silverman. Falmouth already had clinched the overall victory by the time they got going, and Leavitt prevailed 6-3, 6-3 but not without a bit of controversy.
Three games into the first set, Silverman requested an umpire and Roland Gilbert of the Maine Principals Association sat in the chair for the remaining 15 games.
“The first two games there were questionable calls and I just didn’t want to deal with it,” Silverman said, “because I wanted it to be a fair match overall.”
Silverman’s inconsistent serving and Leavitt’s superior athleticism – “She gets everything,” Silverman said – turned the match in favor of Leavitt, who had rallied from a set down to win the singles title on these same courts two weeks earlier and beat Silverman in straight sets indoors two years ago.
“Knowing that we had won, I was able to relax more,” Leavitt said. “Whenever I missed a shot or got down on myself, I would just smile because we had already won and that’s the big picture.”
Elsewhere in singles, Falmouth sophomores Julia Brogan (6-1, 6-2) and Caroline Ray (6-1, 6-0) beat Brunswick seniors Ali Stankiewicz and Leah Soloway, respectively.
In doubles, senior Katie Ryan and freshman Kate Kelley (6-1, 6-0) and freshmen Amanda Watson and Mary Hyland (6-4, 6-3) won for Falmouth, which not only won all 16 matches by a 5-0 score this season, but never was extended to three sets in team competition. Ryan is a senior, the other three freshmen.
“It’s not about the sweep, it was about getting the state title,” Leavitt said. “It’s about the team. I went in thinking it doesn’t matter if I lose a match or one of the other girls loses a match, if we get three points, we’re winners.”
Glenn Jordan can be contacted at 791-6425 or
Gjordan@pressherald.com
Twitter: GlennJordanPPH
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