LEWISTON — Edward Little’s Calvin Vincent said tenacity was required to come out on top in his No. 2 singles match at Lewiston High School on Tuesday.
Vincent and Hampden Academy’s Colin McKay battled for nearly two hours before Vincent won 6-4, 7-5, solidifying the Red Eddies’ 4-1 victory over the Broncos in a Class A North boys tennis quarterfinal.
“We went two sets, but they were both very close,” Vincent said. “It was a battle out there, for sure.”
Vincent tipped his hat to McKay, saying he is “one of the best opponents I played all year, besides the state singles tournament. I just think my tenacity (worked). I just battled all the time.”
“(Calvin) didn’t have his best stuff, but he gutted it out,” Edward Little coach Greg Vincent said. “He didn’t have his best stuff. I don’t think he was feeling 100 percent, and they got into a nice battle and Calvin came back, showed that he had some grit there. It was a big win. That clinched it for us, and the doubles came through to seal the deal at the end.”
The fourth-seeded Red Eddies (9-4) go on to face winner between No. 8 Bangor (2-10) versus No. 1 Skowhegan (12-0) in the semifinals on Thursday at the home court of the higher seed. The fifth-ranked Broncos finish the season at 7-6.
The Red Eddies swept the singles matches, but Hampden made Edward Little work for every point it received.
“We had a really good season; we were thinking we could do some damage in these playoffs,” Hampden coach Tim Throckmorton said. “The singles players here are really solid, but we battled with them the whole time. I was pretty proud of our guys.”
Jonah Chen took down Finn Castrucci with a 6-3, 6-1 victory in the No. 1 singles showdown.
Chen said Castrucci was a “solid opponent,” but Chen added he wanted to capitalize on his opponents errors.
“(Chen) played a good player — one of the better players he has played all year,” Greg Vincent said. “But he looked good. He did what he had to do. The kid really forced (Chen) to play. It was a good match. It was tight.”
The No. 3 singles featured another slugfest, but the Red Eddies’ Luke Pawlina shelved Hampden’s Harrison Withee with a 6-2, 6-1 victory.
“I had a pretty good service game — a lot of aces,” Pawlina said. “I didn’t have many double faults, maybe like four or five.”
Greg Vincent was impressed with Pawlina’s performance.
“Lucas looked really good,” Vincent said. “It is probably one of the best matches I’ve seen him play in a little while. He looked confident. He was moving well, playing he ball well, didn’t really get too worked up about anything and he got the job done.”
The Red Eddies picked up one more victory in doubles competition. Brady Kilby and Richie Romano played three sets before beating Hampden’s Ryan Hafener and Peter Vehar, 6-4, 2-6, 6-1.
“We were just really aggressive at the net,” Kilby said.
“I think our team work was really good and I think we chatted it up,” Romano said.
Vincent said the doubles win was no surprise to him.
“It was nice to see them get a win because they have been battling all season,” he said. “They had a hard time closing out some matches.”
In the other singles match, the Broncos’ Andrew Lyons and Benet Moholand overpowered Edward Little’s Kaden Haider Roussel and Gavin Pelletier, 0-6, 2-6.
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