Yarmouth senior Sofia Mavor enters the girls’ tennis state singles tournament as the top seed. Mavor hasn’t played high school tennis since her freshman year in 2021, when she won the singes title. Ben McCanna/Staff Photographer

As the Yarmouth High girls’ tennis coach, Chris Hill knows the best thing he can do for Sofia Mavor is let her play.

“Typically, I’m just asking her what’s going well out there. Occasionally, I’ll see something, but usually she already knows,” Hill said. “Just stay out of the way and let her play her game.”

A senior, Mavor returned to high school tennis this season after spending the last two springs competing around the country in United States Tennis Association tournaments. The state singles champion as a freshman in 2021, as well as the Varsity Maine Player of the Year that season, Mavor has been dominant in her return to high school competition.

Mavor has not dropped a single game and has led the Clippers (7-2) to the top spot in Class B South Heal point standings entering Thursday.

“I loved it freshman year. I wanted to be on the team again,” Mavor said.

Mavor is the No. 1 seed in the state singles tournament, which will be played Friday, Saturday and Monday at the James Wallach Tennis Center at Bates College in Lewiston. Mavor’s first match is scheduled for 2:45 p.m. Friday against the winner of a morning match between Hattie Moss of Camden Hills and Emilia Ilyas of Kennebunk.

“I’m excited to just go and play. Playing as the No. 1 seed, I’m excited to do that, but obviously there’s a lot of good players in the state,” Mavor said after her 6-0, 6-0 regular-season victory Wednesday over Freeport’s Amanda Panciocco. “I’ll just go play my game and stay focused on every single point and try to play up to my level and see how it goes.”

One contender who will not challenge Mavor this weekend is Kennebunk junior Olivia Cutone. The 2022 Varsity Maine Player of the Year, Cutone chose to skip the state singles tournament for a second consecutive season to focus on national tournaments during the pivotal college recruiting season.

“We’re close friends. We’ve grown up playing tennis together. I was really hoping she’d play, because then potentially we could meet in the tournament,” Mavor said. “I was asking her to play, but she’s doing a similar thing that I was, playing higher level tournaments and traveling a lot.”

Yarmouth senior Sofia Mavor is the No. 1 seed at the state singles tournament this weekend in Lewiston. Ben McCanna/Staff Photographer

You’d think that Mavor gets easily bored rolling through match after match. On the contrary, she said. These matches help Mavor work on the mental side of the game.

“The last two years, I’ve worked on staying focused, staying in the point, not letting distractions get to me. Overall, I feel like I’ve gotten stronger with my movement around the court as well,” she said. “That’s part of the mental challenge I put on myself. Stay focused and try and not lose focus for even a single game, because it’s easy to do no matter who you play.”

One of those distractions occurred in the match Wednesday against Panciocco. Late in the match, an errant ball from another court rolled behind Mavor. The ball was well out of bounds and never a danger to impede her movement, but Mavor was able to turn her head to make sure, then turn back to return Panciocco’s volley. One shot later, though, Mavor’s return went into the net, giving Panciocco the point. It was another reminder to stay focused.

“I made that next shot, but I actually lost the point. I missed the next backhand,” Mavor said. “Every match I play, even if it’s not as competitive as some of the national tournaments I’ve played, it’s still staying focused on every single point.”

Hill said he heard over the winter that Mavor was considering returning to the high school team.

“She’s just improved so much. It’s like a different level. I just don’t think, really, there’s anybody who can compete at her level that’s currently competing in the state,” said Hill, who was an assistant coach with the Clippers when Mavor was a freshman. “Besides her play, she’s a natural leader out there as well. I think the girls, they absorb a lot of what she’s doing and love to watch her play.”

Hill said he sees Mavor using a dominating groundstroke this spring.

Yarmouth senior Sofia Mavor enters the girls’ tennis singles tournament as the top seed. Mavor hasn’t played high school tennis since her freshman year in 2021, when she won the singes title. Ben McCanna/Staff Photographer

“Some of the winners she hits, I always say that’s just nasty. It’s tough to defend,” Hill said.

Mavor has committed to playing collegiate tennis at the Air Force Academy. She began to consider the service academies when she made a recruiting visit to West Point. Mavor said she reached out to Air Force last year  but didn’t hear back until new head coach Taylor Hollander contacted her in the fall.

“I went on a visit and I loved it. It’s something I could see myself doing, the disciplined lifestyle and pushing myself to a higher standard,” said Mavor, who is undecided on what major she’ll pursue.

Having watched her older sister, Lana, make the jump to Division I tennis, first at North Carolina State, then at Southern Methodist, Mavor knows the commitment it takes to compete at that level.

“That’s something I’m excited for, getting college-level coaching, where it’s constant and I can really work on my game,” Mavor said.

There’s plenty to improve before Mavor gets to Air Force. She lists them off like a shopping list.

“Intensity, footwork, obviously physical fitness. Playing aggressive. Coming to the net a lot more than I am now,” Mavor said.  “I’m already working on a lot of it.”

Anyone who has seen Mavor play this spring can attest to that.