SANFORD — There was no panic in the Sanford tennis players. There was only focus on “every point.”
That’s how Sanford tennis player Kayla Cote put it on Wednesday afternoon after her team was down 2-0 to Biddeford before storming back to win 3-2 in a Western Maine Class A girls tennis preliminary round match.
“Coach always tells us to focus on the next point,” said Cote, who plays No. 1 singles for Sanford. “That’s all we can do.”
Cote used that strategy to her advantage in her pivotal match against Biddeford’s No. 1 player Aly Roy.
Cote won 7-5, 7-5, but trailed 5-4 in both sets of the evenly played match. At times, both players rallied for five minutes on deuce and ad points with Cote trailing.
“That’s what I like,” Cote said. “I’m known to do that, but I just try to make every point count and not worry about it.”
Cote’s victory prevented Biddeford from winning the overall match and pushed the score to 2-1. It proved to be the turning point.
“It was extremely frustrating,” Roy said. “She’s a great player, and I couldn’t break her. Once we went to deuce, it was never ending.”
From there, the Sanford doubles teams did the work.
The sister duo of Mimi and Misa Mai beat Biddeford’s Justine Bouthot and Autumn Carey, but not after a long match that went three sets.
The Mai girls won the first set 6-3, but Bouthot and Carey bounced back to win the second set 6-4. The sisters, however, took the third set 6-2 for the match.
“I have a lot of faith in my doubles teams,” Sanford coach Aaron Stam said. “That was just a great match. Biddeford really pushed us and played well. They are a good team.”
The Sanford doubles team of Chelsea Rodrigue and Logan Fecteau sealed the win beating Biddeford’s Michelle Cote and Hannah Lariviere 7-6 (7-2), 6-2.
Sanford advanced to play No. 1 McAuley today at 4 p.m. at Payson Park in Portland.
Stam said the match will be a challenge.
“They’re the No. 1 seed for a reason,” he said. “I feel good about our team right now and think we’ll be ready. We’re playing well.”
The Thornton Academy boys also advanced to play No. 1 Deering today after beating No. 9 Bonny Eagle, 3-2, Wednesday afternoon.
Both Kennebunk squads lost on Wednesday, ending their seasons.
* An earlier version of this story was published with an error. This version reflects the correction(s). Contact Al Edwards at 282-1535, Ext. 323.
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