The state singles tournament concludes Friday, Saturday and Monday at Colby College, beginning with the Round of 48 elimination matches on Friday. The top 12 seeded players get a bye to the Round of 32 later in the day.

Defending state singles champion Patrick Ordway of Waynflete is the top-seeded boy while Brunswick’s Maisie Silverman is the top-seeded girl.

All three of the singles players from defending state Class B girls champion Falmouth are seeded. They include Annie Criscione at No. 2, Analise Kump at No. 3 and Olivia Leavitt at No. 5. Waterville’s Colleen O’Donnell is seeded eighth. Last year, Falmouth defeated Waterville in the state finals and the teams are unbeaten in their respective regions and appear headed for another showdown.

Local players still alive include Winthrop’s Amber Pritchard, who faces Caribou’s Ashley Richards, Hall-Dale’s Wendy Goldman, who takes on Caribou’s Katie Keaton, Oak Hill’s Darby Beaulieu, who faces Deering’s Molly Gallagher, and Waterville’s Olivia Lopes, who meets Mt. Desert Island’s Mia Musetti. O’Donnell will play the winner of a match between Cheverus’ Caty Galligan and Ellsworth’s Ina Mahoney.

On the boys side, Waterville’s Callum Thomas plays Brewer’s Ian Burgess,Maranacook’s Jason Laporte faces Messalonskee’s Jai Aslam and Hall-Dale’s Spencer Shagoury meets Bangor John Szewczyk.

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Waterville coach Jim Begin would like to replay Friday’s 3-2 loss to Morse. The Purple Panthers had the match in hand, leading 5-1 in the deciding set. But the Shipbuilders rallied for a 3-2 win.

“If we had won that match, we’d probably be in second (place),” Begin said. “It’s a disappointing end for the kids.”

Begin’s team finished at 9-3 and still has more tennis ahead of it in the Eastern Maine Class B tournament. They currently stand in fifth place. Begin’s three returning seniors Callum Thomas, Kyle Marrache and Ben Roy have played first, second and third singles, respectively. Thomas finished at 6-4 during the regular season while Marrache went 9-3 and Roy 9-2.

Begin has had to juggle his lineup all season long. Four players left the team during the exhibition season and many others have missed matches due to other commitments. Against Morse, he was forced to move his second doubles team of Zack Disch and Galen Lichterfeld up to first doubles. To that point they were unbeaten but lost to Morse’s first doubles team.

Disch, who had three different doubles partners in preseason, finished with an overall singles and doubles record of 18-1 that also included exhibition matches.

Freshman Ilyas Khan and sophomore Adrian Rivas usually play first doubles and went 9-3 in the regular season.

Despite the loss to Morse, begin pointed out his team also pulled off upsets against Oceanside and Camden Hills.

“Everybody had new roles,” he said. “Three guys I was counting on decided not to play. Next year these guys will have a lot of experience. I was very encouraged.”

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The Monmouth boys are 9-2 going into today’s final match of the regular season against Lisbon. There are only three seniors on the team — Nick Trenholm, Chris Taylor and Kyle Brown — but they’ve provided a steadying influence.

Trenholm plays second singles and has been the team’s most consistent player, according to first-year coach Dania Frost, while Taylor and Brown play first doubles. The rest of the team is made up of freshmen and sophomores. Freshman Kasey Smith plays first singles and has held his own with the top players in the Mountain Valley Conference. Sophomore Robert Vickerson plays second singles while sophomore Joe Menice and freshman Ben Bolstridge have only lost one match at second doubles.

The Mustangs lost to unbeaten St. Dominic and Dirigo but have notched big wins against Hall-Dale and Winthrop. They stand in third spot in Western Maine Class C and there’s a good chance they’ll meet Winthrop in the opening round of the playoffs. They beat Winthrop 3-2 during the season, winning both doubles and a second singles match that include a first-set tiebreaker.

“It was a really good match,” Frost said. “Sometimes I think the challenge is better for us.”

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The Hall-Dale boys are 9-2 going into today’s regular-season final against unbeaten St. Dominic. Junior Spencer Shagoury has moved into the top singles position previously occupied by his older brother Joe, who graduated last year. Shagoury’s only loss so far has been a three-setter to Dirigo’s Josh Turbide.

“He’s faced the best player from every team we’ve played,” Hall-Dale coach Dan Bence said. “He’s stepped up to the plate and delivered for the team. He can adapt to different situations.”

The doubles teams have excelled for the Bulldogs, losing only to Monmouth. Sophomores Josh Peterson and Ryan Branscom play first doubles while freshman Bryson Camp and sophomore Nick Bates are at second doubles.

The Bulldogs are in fourth place in Western Maine Class C and will face No. 5 Waynflete if the standings remain the same.

Hall-Dale recently hosted it first annual invitational tournament and it drew 24 players.

“We were very happy with the results,” Bence said. “We had kids from Cony, Gardiner and Dirigo.”

Dirigo’s Turbide won the boys singles title while Hall-Dale’s Goldman won the girls.

“This year was mostly an experiment,” Bence said. “Hopefully next year we can do some fundraising. The idea was to expose kids to tournament play, get them a chance to see kids they would not see in the regular season and just shine the light on tennis in general.”

Gary Hawkins — 621-5638

ghawkins@centralmaine.com

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