Falmouth High senior Olivia Leavitt won her third straight state singles tennis title and Waynflete senior Isaac Salas his first Monday afternoon inside The Racket & Fitness Center in Portland.

The top-seeded Leavitt finally converted her sixth match point to defeat No. 2 Bethany Hammond, a sophomore from Belgrade who attends Saint Dominic Academy in Auburn, by a score of 6-4, 7-6 (7-1) in the final of the Maine Principals’ Association girls tournament.

Leavitt had two match points at 5-3 in the second set and served at 40-love, 5-4 before Hammond won five points in a row and then held serve to take a 6-5 lead.

Hammond won the first point of the tiebreaker before Leavitt took control with seven straight, ending the nearly two-hour match on a forehand passing shot.

Salas, the second seed who hails from Camden but attends school in Portland, knocked off No. 1 Nick Mathieu, a sophomore from Mt. Ararat in Topsham, 7-6 (7-5), 6-3.

Salas also had two set points in the first that would have avoided a tiebreaker, but Mathieu hung on and even took a 4-3 lead in the breaker. He also broke serve to open the second set before Salas won three straight games to take control.

In morning semifinal matches, Leavitt defeated teammate Julia Brogan, a Falmouth junior, 6-1, 6-1 while Hammond dispatched Wells freshman Rosemary Campanella 6-1, 6-2.

Mathieu and Salas turned back semifinal challenges from a pair of Serbian exchange students. Salas beat No. 3 Luka Stevic of Lee Academy 6-3, 6-3 and Mathieu outlasted No. 4 Teodor Antelj of Fryeburg Academy 7-6 (7-5), 6-4.


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