WATERVILLE — Weather constantly changes during spring in Maine, and that forces high school sports teams to constantly adapt to changes in surroundings.

Adapting was the word of the day for the first round of the Maine Principals’ Association’s singles and doubles tennis tournaments on Thursday.

Originally scheduled to be played on the outdoor courts at Bates College in Lewiston and Edward Little High School in Auburn, Thursday’s round was moved to the field house of Colby College. The change provided small but noticeable changes in play.

“There’s no wind or sunlight that’s a factor; I like playing on the indoor courts here,” said Orono senior Bergen Soderberg, who beat Liam O’Brien of Cape Elizabeth, 6-3, 6-0. “I certainly like the Bates courts. I played well there last year, did well at the state championships, so I’m excited to play there again.”

The most noticeable differences for players were the lighting and how the ball played off the rubber surface. The field house at Colby is used for both tennis and track.

“(The surface) is a little more unpredictable, I’d say,” Soderberg said. “(O’Brien) had a lot of backspin (on shots), so the ball was jumping up at me. It’s just a little different than normal, but I adapted quickly.”

Proud as a Peacock

Gardiner senior Brady Peacock is more at home hitting jumpers on the hardwood than forehand volleys on a tennis court.

But Peacock achieved a personal milestone when he beat Jonah Nathanson of Cheverus, 6-2, 6-2.

“It’s my first win in a tennis tournament, and it feels good,” said Peacock, who helped lead the Gardiner boys basketball team to the Class B championship with a 58-54 win over Yarmouth in February. “It’s a little different, it’s certainly not basketball. I only started playing (tennis) four years ago.”

Peacock credited work with his trainer, Alex Stern, director and head tennis pro at A-Copi — also known as the Kennebec Valley Tennis Association — in Augusta for improving his play this spring.

“After a couple of games, I settled in,” Peacock said. “The score (doesn’t show) how the match was. It was competitive, going back and forth.”

Peacock will meet Adrian Mazurenko, the No. 3 seed from Falmouth, in the next round. Peacock’s future is firmly entrenched in basketball. He’ll be joining the Central Maine Community College men’s team next season.

Camden Hills’ Van Hoewyk making her mark

As a sophomore last season, Olive Van Hoewyk of Camden Hills found success as one half of a state champion doubles duo with Rana Abess.

This year, Van Hoewyk is holding her own in singles competition. She beat Scarborough sophomore Olivia Link, 6-4, 5-7, 1-0 (8), in one of the afternoon’s tightest matches.

Van Hoewyk qualified for the singles tournament last year but fell 6-2, 6-0 to Caribou’s Adriana Deschaine.

“After losing last year in the first round, I’ve been waiting for this moment,” Van Hoewyk said. “It was a great battle out there. (Link) played really great. I was just trying to stay positive out there and kept telling myself, ‘I can do this.’ Just be consistent at the end of the day, because that was the difference of the match, who could keep the ball going one more point.”

Van Hoewyk is no stranger to playing three sets. Abess and Van Hoewyk had to come back to beat Payton Thibodeau and Hadley Foster of Gorham, 1-6, 6-2, 6-3, in last year’s doubles semifinals. Van Hoewyk said that run helped give her confidence in singles play.

“It’s been very different this year playing singles, and I haven’t had too much experience doing that,” Van Hoewyk said. “But I built up confidence over the offseason. Playing doubles last season, knowing I can win after being down (in a match), it definitely gave me confidence today.”

MPA to use Sunday as a makeup day

Tournament play for both singles and doubles continues Friday at Colby, with 26 matches scheduled across the four courts. On Saturday, the singles tournament will move to Bates College, while doubles matches will be played at Edward Little.

With the movement in schedule caused by the weather, the doubles semifinals and finals and the singles quarterfinals and semifinals will be played at Bates on Sunday for the first time. The MPA tennis committee agreed to use Sunday for a makeup date if needed.

The MPA, the governing body of sports in the state, is traditionally against games or tournaments being played on Sundays, but the move is not unprecedented. The MPA agreed to the New England wrestling tournament being hosted on a Sunday in Methuen, Massachusetts, back in 2020, due to struggles of finding a host site.

The boys and girls singles finals will be Monday at Bates.