Sofia Mavor of Yarmouth, just a freshman, won the state singles title this spring. Shawn Patrick Ouellette/Staff Photographer
People occasionally ask Sofia Mavor when she started playing tennis, but they may as well ask the 15-year-old when she started walking.
“I can’t honestly remember getting into it, but I know it was from a young age,” she said, “probably around 3.”
Mavor grew up in a tennis world. Her parents played in college. Her two older sisters played. Her grandfather gave them lessons.
Oh, she dabbled in other sports. She gave soccer a whirl. She still enjoys skiing, both downhill and cross country. But tennis is her world.
In her first year of high school this spring, Mavor swept through the regular season, playoffs and singles state tournament without dropping a set. In the singles tournament, she didn’t even lose a game until her fourth match (a 6-0, 6-3 semifinal victory over No. 4 Caitlin Cass of Lincoln Academy) and then prevailed in a blustery championship match against fellow left-hander and training partner Morgan Warner, a Waynflete senior, by a score of 6-4, 6-0.
For doing so, Mavor is our Varsity Maine Player of the Year for girls’ tennis.
Sofia Mavor of Yarmouth, left, and Morgan Warner of Waynflete shake hands after the final of the state singles tournament, won by Mavor 6-4. 6-0. Shawn Patrick Ouellette/Staff Photographer
“There weren’t a lot of surprises for me,” said Yarmouth Coach Bill Shardlow, “because I knew who she was as a person and as a player.”
Mavor became the third member of her immediate family to win a Maine high school singles title, joining sister Lana (2017) and father Brian (1982). Lana recently finished her second year at North Carolina State and is transferring to Southern Methodist University in Texas.
Currently ranked 13th among 16-and-under girls in the USTA New England region, Sofia is ranked 215th nationally in that age group. Not all juniors from Maine who are highly ranked choose to play high school tennis, but the freshman embraced the opportunity.
“I was really excited to be able to perform all that I’ve practiced, and most of all, to be on a team,” Mavor said. “Tennis is such an individual sport and that’s what it’s been for me. So getting to know the other girls and players and getting that bond of having my match being a point and counting for our team, that was a little bit of a change of what I’m used to. It was fun.”
The Clippers went from a 4-8 team that missed playoffs in 2019 to – with Mavor – an 11-4 squad that reached the Class B South finals before falling 3-2 to Cape Elizabeth.
“She was a sweetheart to the girls on the team,” Shardlow said. “She never overhit. She never tried to impose her talent on anybody. She was just a great, great teammate. A lot of the girls who play high school tennis are as much recreational as competitive, and she understands that.”
Of course, when it was time to compete, Mavor could block out all distractions and focus entirely on the task before her. Warner, who will be playing Division I tennis at Providence in the fall, know that better than anyone.
“There’s definitely a difference between on court and off court,” said Warner, who has been training with Mavor for the past three years and will play doubles with her in an upcoming tournament. “On court, she’s very concentrated and very calm. She doesn’t show much negative emotion on the court and that has a big impact on her tennis.”
For her part, Mavor said her success in the singles tournament and high school tennis in general surprised her a little bit.
“I was ambitious and hoped I could do the best I could,” she said. “I’m happy it worked out.”
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