LEWISTON —The eighth-seeded Edward Little girls tennis team relied on its singles players to earn a Class A North first-round tennis victory over ninth-seeded Bangor.
Mya Vincent, Isabelle Trombley and Paige Morgan won their matches as the Red Eddies won 3-2 at the Coach Anita Murphy Tennis Courts at Lewiston High School.
“Bangor has a nice team. They were the ninth seed and we were the eighth seed — I assumed it was going to be a good fight,” Edward Little coach Kevin Vincent said. “I had a suspicion that the team match would come down to three singles — in my mind, that was the closest match — and it did.”
Trombley earned Edward Little’s (5-8) first point of the afternoon in No. 2 singles with a 6-0, 6-0 win over Emily Varnum.
“I think the first set, overall, I had pretty good control, and in the second set, it was getting a little bit closer and we were going to deuce a little more often,” Trombley said. “I think I was able to maintain control.”
The Rams took a 2-1 lead by winning both doubles matches. Grace Bennett and Emily Rutherford took No. 1 doubles with a 6-2, 6-1 win over the Eddies’ Mai Luu and Rhassya Kamel. In second doubles, Ohara Dunlea and Ellie Nichols defeated Myesha Baker and Julia Carpentier 6-1, 6-2.
“We had very good communication, and we called (for the) ball if we were going to hit (it),” Dunlea said of what worked well for her and Nichols.
Bangor coach Jameson Ploch said doubles earning two points was important because Edward Little’s Mya Vincent would be difficult to beat in No. 1 singles.
“Coming in here today, I know they have a strong No. 1 singles player; she did a great job in the singles tournament,” Ploch said. “I knew Hannah (Sherwood) would have a fun time playing her, and doubles coming out and playing hard and well would be a big key for us.”
Mya Vincent tied the team match at 2-2 with a 6-1, 6-0 win over Sherwood.
Mya Vincent reached the semifinals of the state singles tournament earlier this month, but said that she is more in her element in a team match setting.
“It was a lot less nerve-wracking,” Mya Vincent said. “I was a lot more comfortable playing today; I felt at home here at Lewiston. ”
She added that Sherwood did a good job of running to the ball, which forced Vincent to be patient to earn points.
Morgan clinched the win for the Red Eddies with a 6-2, 7-6 (7-2) win in third singles.
Morgan said she just had enough gas in the tank to pull off the win in two sets.
“The first set was a lot better than the second set,” Morgan said. “The second set, I had to dig deep to pull out a win.”
Edward Little will now face No. 1 Brunswick in the quarterfinals on Thursday. The Dragons won both regular-season matches 5-0.
“Brunswick is tough, it’s going to be a tough match to win,” Kevin Vincent said. “We will go up there and fight, but it’s going to be a tough match to win.”
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