3 min read

LEWISTON โ€” Sophia Turker took a look around and saw a concerning sight. Four Falmouth tennis matches were in progress, and the Navigators were losing three of them.

โ€œI was like, โ€˜Oh, Lord,'โ€ she said. โ€œโ€˜Howโ€™s this going to go?'โ€

Turns out, pretty well. Turker and her teammates shook off the slow starts, and the Falmouth girls tennis team advanced to its fourth straight state championship with a 5-0 victory over Scarborough in the Class A South final โ€” the teamโ€™s 47th straight victory.

โ€œ(Itโ€™s) relieving,โ€ Turker said. โ€œNow itโ€™s kind of like we have to keep it up, so itโ€™s kind of relieving to have won this match and (get) one more.โ€

An even longer streak continued in the boys match, as Falmouth earned its 63rd straight win with a 4-1 victory over Thornton Academy. The Navigators (15-0) eked out a 3-2 win over the Trojans (13-2) on May 7, but they were dominant Monday.

โ€œThat was our main goal (this year), to keep the streak alive,โ€ said junior Matt Morneault, who breezed to a 6-0, 6-0 win at No. 1 singles. โ€œThereโ€™s always pressure, but it also motivates us. We know we can do it.โ€

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The Falmouth girls (15-0) have no seniors, and they were without last yearโ€™s singles champion, Sofia Kirtchev, for the whole season. But Monday was the continuation of another dominant spring for the Navigators.

โ€œOur youth, itโ€™s like a pound of clay. It can come out as a beautiful work, or itโ€™s a work in progress with cracks,โ€ coach Larry Nichols said. โ€œIโ€™m so proud of the younger players, who have just stepped up.โ€

Sophomore Helena Nelson and freshman Cici Benson, this yearโ€™s doubles state champions, put Falmouth on the board with a 6-0, 6-1 win at first doubles, and sophomores Ava Draeger and Lilly Woolf won 7-5, 7-5 at second doubles. Freshman Jules Kotzan, a 6-4, 6-2 winner at third singles, made the regional title official.

โ€œThird singles is sometimes make-or-break, and being at Bates with a crowd and cameras and interviews, itโ€™s a lot of pressure,โ€ Kotzan said. โ€œIt was tough, I was down early in the first set, but I work hard mentally to keep playing and stay confident.โ€

Turker, a junior captain, endured two tiebreakers to outlast Olivia Link of Scarborough (12-3) in a marathon 6-7 (5), 6-4, 1-0 (7) result at second singles, and Phoebe Reilly rounded out the day with a 7-5, 6-4 win over Suzann Link at first singles.

โ€œThe first set, I was really inconsistent,โ€ Turker said. โ€œBut after the first set, I kind of got it together.โ€

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The top two for the Falmouth boys, Morneault and Adrian Mazurenko, showcased again why the Navigators have the most lethal top of the ladder in the state. Morneault, the two-time singles state champion, took down Andriy Vykhodtsev in straight sets, while Mazurenko at No. 2 used his powerful groundstrokes to defeat Takaya Masuda, 6-1, 6-4.

โ€œThe first set, I played pretty dominantly. โ€ฆ The second set, he picked up his game like crazy,โ€ Mazurenko said. โ€œIt took a little bit in me to switch gears and lock in again.โ€

Mazurenkoโ€™s win was the third of the day and the match clincher. The Navigators started with a 6-1, 6-2 win from Eli Sidhu and Dante Iannetta at No. 1 doubles, then went up 2-0 with a 6-4, 6-3 win from Luke Kusel and Blake McAteer at No. 2.

Thorntonโ€™s win came from Felipe Noronha, a 2-6, 7-5, 1-0 (6) victor over Alex Kirtchev at No. 3 singles.

Drew Bonifant covers sports for the Press Herald, with beats in high school football, basketball and baseball. He was previously part of the Kennebec Journal and Morning Sentinel sports team. A New Hampshire...

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