Mya Vincent has been looking forward to this weekend’s state singles tennis tournament.
“I am so excited — this is what I have been working toward for four years now,” she said. “It’s the best circumstances going into the tournament. I am really excited to play and see what happens.”
The Edward Little senior is the No. 1 seed in the girls draw of the Maine Principals’ Association’s state singles tournament, which begins Friday at Bates College at 9 a.m. with the first rounds of the boys and girls competitions.
The rounds of 16 and 8 are set to be played at Bates on Saturday, beginning at 9 a.m., while the semifinals and championship matches are on Monday, also at Bates, starting at 9:30 a.m.
Edward Little High School boys tennis coach Greg Vincent talks with his No. 1 singles player Jonah Chen and the Red Eddies’ No.1 girls player, Mya Vincent, during practice at Lewiston High School on April 4. Daryn Slover/Sun Journal
Last year, Vincent was the No. 4 seed and reached the semifinals, losing to Lidia Gomez of Maine Central Institute, the No. 1 seed and eventual state champion.
The goal is another long run this season and to win the state singles championship.
“I’d say it’s the same pressure because most of the pressure I am feeling is internal,” Vincent said. “(It’s a) goal of mine that I have had for a while right now, so most of the pressure is internal.”
Only one Edward Little girls player has won the state singles girls title — Laura Glitz in 1982. Glitz is currently Purdue University’s women’s tennis coach.
Vincent is undefeated this regular season in her individual matches.
“I have been playing really well in the matches I have played so far this year,” Vincent said. “I have been able to create the results that I have really wanted to see. So that’s pretty cool.”
She has been working with her personal coach, Harvey McCartney — the tennis pro at The Woodlands in Falmouth — Edward Little’s girls tennis coach Kirk Egge and her dad Kevin Vincent, who coached Edward Little last season, on consistency, hitting the ball hard and being confident on the court.
Mya Vincent has sat out the past few regular-season matches to save her energy for the upcoming weekend.
As the No. 1 seed, she earned a first-round bye. She will face the winner of a first-round match between Sol Vidal Quadras Ferres (Foxcroft Academy) and Charlotte Delehey (Camden Hills) in the second round.
Vincent said she will probably be around in the morning to watch the Ferres-Delehey match.
“The whole weekend is so fun,” Vincent said. “I am looking forward to it. I really enjoy watching tennis, so I probably will be there quite a bit.”
Four other area girls players are participating in the tournament, who are all unseeded, in Sophie Blanco (Winthrop), Gracie Ross (Mt. Blue), Emma Omiecinski (Lewiston) and Aubrey Kachnovich (Spruce Mountain).
Blanco will play Adea Cobaj (Yarmouth) in the first round, while Omiecinski takes on Ashlyn Bouchard (Caribou). Ross faces Karin Zimba (Waterville) in the opening round. Kachhnovich will battle Anna Drake (John Bapst).
The other seeded players are No. 2 Coco Meserve (Brunswick), No. 3 Amber Woods (Scarborough), No. 4 Olivia Guinard (Sanford), No. 5 Sofia Kirtchev (Falmouth), No. 6 Haylie Peacock (Gardiner), No. 7 Laura Chapman (Boothbay), No. 8 Anne Alfaro (Greely), No. 9 Claire Dwyer (Maranacook), No. 10 Becca Naftoly (Berwick Academy), No. 11 Charlotte Williamson (Falmouth) and No. 12 Sarah Moulton (Washington Academy).
EDWARD LITTLE, MT. BLUE LEAD BOYS DRAW
The Red Eddies and Cougars each have three players competing in the boys tournament.
Jonah Chen, the No. 12 seed, is Edward Little’s top player, and joining him in the tournament are teammates Calvin Vincent and Lucas Pawlina.
“They all have been playing well,” Edward Little coach Greg Vincent said. “Jonah is undefeated on the (regular) season, Calvin has lost one match, and Lucas has technically lost two matches, but one was a default. He’s back, and he’s playing really well. Going into the tournament on Friday, they are firing on all cylinders. I am hoping for some good results from those guys.”
Greg Vincent said it is a tough draw for his three players. Chen, who has a first-round bye, could face Greely’s top player, Charles Segal, if Segal gets by Theo Demetriou of Waynflete in the opening round.
Chen and Segal have faced each other before.
“We actually played (Greely) in a scrimmage,” Greg Vincent said. “It was close, but Jonah lost that match. If he plays him again, it could go either way. Jonah will have to bear down — it won’t be an easy match for him.”
Calvin Vincent, a freshman and Greg’s son, has seen his first-round opponent, Gabe Berman of Cape Elizabeth, in a youth tournament a few years ago.
“Calvin has played him before — not in the high school league — and Calvin lost,” Greg said. “He has his work cut out for him.”
Pawlina hasn’t faced his first-round opponent before, but Edward Little has seen Diego Vazquez of Mt. Blue.
Vazquez faced Chen in the regular season.
“It will be an interesting match,” Greg Vincent said of the Pawlina and Vazquez match. “Diego definitely has strokes, and he’s got a lot of game. Luca’s best chance is if he wears him down and makes him play a lot of balls.”
Mt. Blue coach Zac Conlogue said Vazquez and Pawlina’s different styles should make it a fun match to watch.
Vazquez is a foreign exchange student from Mexico. Last year, Mt. Blue had another foreign exchange student from Mexico, Bernardo Tovar, reach the round of 8.
Conlogue said Vazquez is a different type of player than Tovar.
“They have different styles of play,” Conlogue said. “Obviously, Bernardo was a special player, but Diego is a good player. He’s very creative; when you watch him, he surprises a lot of people because he has some sneaky shots that he can pull out of his bag.”
James Stinson, also of Mt. Blue, is one of the first matches to go off in the morning when he takes on Harrison Withee of Hampden Academy.
Conlogue said Stinson got hot as an unseeded player at the Region 4 qualifying tournament. Stinson beat teammate Rob Feeney and Isaac Ouellette of Madison, the eighth seed, in Region 4 to qualify for the state singles tournament.
The third Mt. Blue player making the field is Carson Zundel, who has battled some injuries this season.
“He has missed three or four matches this year,” Conlogue said. “He’s finally got his stride back the Saturday of the (Region 4) singles tournament. He has won his last two matches for us. … He’s playing really well right now, and he’s serving the fastest I have ever seen him serve. Maybe the rest helped him.”
Zundel faces Evan Ankrom of Mt. Desert Island in the first round.
The only other area player in the boys tournament is Mountain Valley’s Owen Sevigney, who faces Logan Tardif of Waterville in the opening round.
The 11 other seeded players are No. 1 Xander Barber (Falmouth), No. 2 Sam Yoon (Falmouth), No. 3 Tianyi Ma (Thornton Academy), No. 4 Khang Duy Vinh Nguyen (Foxcroft Academy), No. 5 Daniel Landry (Deering), No. 6 Alberto Cutone (Kennebunk), No. 7 Westy Granholm (MDI), No. 8 Sam Poth (John Bapst), No. 9 Max Friedlander (MDI), No. 10 Quinn Federle (Yarmouth) and No. 11 Isaac Swain (Medomak Valley).
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