The No. 2-seeded sophomore had a first-round bye and her second-round match wasn’t slated until 5:30 p.m. — the last on the girls’ side. Hammond didn’t end up stepping onto the court until a little after 6 p.m., approximately nine hours before the tournament got under way.
Hammond didn’t wait long to earn a berth to the round of 16, making quick work of North Yarmouth Academy’s Mary Morrison, 6-0, 6-1, in a match that took roughly 30 minutes to complete.
“She played well at the net and it was good seeing all aspects of her game kind of just wrapping up at the end of the season now and we’ll see what tomorrow brings,” St. Dom’s coach Andrew Girouard said.
Hammond said she arrived on campus at 3 p.m., well after the conclusion of the first round, and did what everyone else in the audience was doing under the sweltering heat: watching tennis matches.
“It’s kind of nice to watch other matches, but you get kind of anxious as it keeps going,” Hammond said.
Hammond, who finished third at last year’s tournament, will play Cheverus’ Natalia Mavor in the round of 16 on Saturday at 10:30 a.m.
Having been to the tournament semifinals as a freshman, Hammond said Friday’s victory didn’t feel any different than when she advanced to the round of 16 last year. It is a sense of relief, however.
“There’s definitely pressure because of people’s expectations, but anyone could win on any given day,” Hammond said.
Upsets were minimal on the tournament’s first day. All 12 seeded players on the girls’ side advanced to the round of 16, with all but one coming via straight sets. Only Cape Elizabeth’s Katie Gilman managed to take her seeded opponent, No. 8 Merideth Blessard from Mattanawcook Academy, to a third set. Blessard avoided the upset, winning 6-3, 3-6, 6-2.
The boys’ side had a bit more drama as Thornton Academy’s Carlos Jimenez ousted 12th-seeded Austin Pohlman of Camden Hills, 6-2, 6-1. It was the only loss by a seeded player on the day.
Lewiston’s Cole Ouellette nearly sent another home in Fryeburg Academy’s Tristan Rother in a three-set thriller. Ouellette had two match points leading 5-4 in the third set, but the 11th-seeded Rother fended off elimination and posted a 6-0, 4-6, 7-6 (4) victory to advance.
A few hours removed from a 6-1, 6-3, victory over Mt. Ararat’s Trevor Mayo in the first round, Ouellette struggled out of the gate in the opening set, failing to win a game.
The tough start didn’t deter the sophomore.
“The mindset was to just go out and have fun and try to get some winners and it worked out for me,” Ouellette said.
Ouellette found those winners in the second set, allowing him to prolong the match to a decisive third set. He looked poised to pull the upset after winning the first three games of the third set before Rother won four of the next five to square the match.
Ouellette won the ninth game of the set to grab a 5-4 lead and had match point leading 40-15. But Rother won the final four points to once again even things up.
After winning the ensuing game on four straight points, Ouellette couldn’t close out the match as Rother ripped three straight forehand winners to force a third-set tiebreaker. Ouellette and Rother broke each other’s serves in the final five games.
“Neither of us could hold our serves,” Ouellette said. “We were kind of going off each other’s serves, which is different in tennis.”
Rother led throughout the tiebreaker, winning the first three points before Ouellette came back with two unanswered to pull within one. But an overhead smash by Rother and an Ouellette double fault gave the Raider match point. He won it three points later on another double fault.
“I had to battle,” Ouellette said. “He’s a good player. He has a strong forehand so I just had to keep it away from that. I had that match point and I let it go and he took advantage of it and it was a good match.”
Monmouth Academy’s Kasey Smith claimed a first-set tiebreaker against ninth-seeded Thomas Jarmusz of Morse, before running out of steam in a 6-7, 6-1, 6-1 second-round defeat. Smith topped John Bapst’s Michael Dunning in a lengthy first-round tilt, 7-5, 6-4.
Morse was one of six schools to send multiple members to the round of 16. Falmouth led the way with four — three on the girls’ side. Morse, Cape Elizabeth and Mt. Ararat all sent three, while Fryeburg and Thornton have two. Twenty-one schools are represented among the boys’ and girls’ round of 16.
Lewiston’s Alanna Taylor, Mt. Blue’s Eryn Doiron and Winthrop’s Megan Chamberland all won their respective first-round matches before being eliminated in the second round.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
