Watch: Sofia Mavor gives up a game but moves on to state singles semifinals

May 18—LEWISTON — Yarmouth's Sofia Mavor experienced first on Saturday.

The top seed in the girls draw of the MPA state singles tennis tournament at Bates College dropped a game for the first time this season. The senior, who's heading to the Air Force Academy, only dropped the one game and defeated Kira Gregor of Cony 6-0, 6-1 in the quarterfinals.

"I wanted to try to go without losing a game, but what happens, happens," Mavor said. "I can't change it now. It was like, 'Oh, darn it,' and then I kind of moved on."

The semifinals and finals will be played Monday at Bates.

Mavor credits Gregor, the No. 9 seed, for making adjustments in the second set.

"The second set, I did notice a difference, and she adapted to my game a little bit more, especially my pace," Mavor said. "Most of my opponents struggled with that and she kind of settled in."

Mavor defeated Alyssa Conley of Windham 6-0, 6-0 in the Round of 16 earlier Saturday, while Gregor defeated Olivia Guinard of Sanford 6-3, 6-1.

Defending girls state champion Coco Meseve of Brunswick, the No. 2 seed, said after defeating Adea Cobaj of Yarmouth 7-5, 6-0 and No. 7 Vittoria De Lisio of Thornton Academy 6-3, 7-5, that she hopes to meet Mavor in the final on Monday.

"To be completely honest, I don't know how likely I am going to be defending my final in the finals," Meserve said. "I am excited to possibly play Sophia Mavor because she's such a great player. It will be fun trying to return her serve or her powerful forehand. I am excited to hopefully to have a chance to try that."

George Cutone of Kennebunk moved on with a Round of 16 win over Xavier Deschaines of Van Buren 6-0, 6-0, and then he defeated Andi Cobaj of Yarmouth 6-1, 6-0 in the quarterfinals.

The senior, who has committed to play at Navy, said he played well in his two matches.

"My backhand was pretty solid, my forehand was similarly solid," George Cutone said. "My serve wasn't doing too much for me today, but I was able to hold onto the match."

Cutone's younger brother, Alberto defeated Sam Hebert 6-0, 6-0, in the Round of 16 and No. 6 Terry Ma of Thornton Academy 6-3, 6-2 in the quarters.

Alberto, a sophomore and the No. 3 seed, worked up a sweat in the quarterfinals.

"There were some really good points that went over 10, 15 times," Alberto Cutone said.

There's competitive fire in the Cutone household.

"We are both pushing each other the best we can," George said. "When one of us does well, we feed off of it."

Alberto likes going up against his siblings, which includes sister Olivia.

"It definitely builds my game because I can go out and train every day with them," Alberto said. "They are always better than me. So I can train with better players, it's always a win-win for me.

Fourth-seeded Sofia Kirtchev of Falmouth and No. 5 Ava Vardaros of MCI had a spirited match where Vardos let out some emotion throughout the match.

"I realized staying calm when she was riled up, I tried to be the bigger person during the situation," Kirtchev said. "That really gave me the edge.

Kirtchev moved onto the semifinals for the second straight year by winning 6-4, 6-1. Kirtchev defeated Eliza Naftoly of Berwick 6-4, 6-1 in the Round of 16, while Vardaros defeated Zoe Castrucci of Hampden Academy 7-6 (6), 6-1.

During the second set, Kirtchev asked the coaches to line judge the match.

"I called the line judge because I felt unconfident on the line calls," Kirtchev said. "It had nothing to do with her; she was playing her game. I thought it would be appropriate."

When the match ended, Kirtchev met Vardaros at the match with out-stretched arms and the two competitors hugged.

"I think both of us poured all of our energies and heart out onto the court," Kirtchev said. "And at the end, when I hugged her, it was really emotional because, at the end of the day, we are both humans and not robots."

Unseeded Molly Tefft of Brunswick reached the quarterfinals by defeating Lucy Hart of Waynflete 6-0, 6-2 in the Round of 16.

"Again, I am shocked, I have never been this far, I am just a sophomore — it's just so exciting," Tufft said.

Tefft, who is the girls state chess champion, said she kept the ball long against Hart.

"I played deep shots and made sure I stayed confident," Tefft said.

Her tournament ended when No. 6 Becca Naftoly of Berwick defeated her 6-0, 6-1 in the quarters.

"I was excited to play her because she wasn't seeded," Naftoly said. "It was cool to see how great she was doing in the tournament. I just treated it like any other match — not if she was a seed or not — but she was very fun to play against and I had a really good time."

Earlier in the day, Naftoly defeated No. 11 Claire Dwyer of Maranacook 6-2, 6-0.

Saturday's rainy weather Saturday forced the state singles tournament to move into Bates College's Merrill Gymnasium, where the four courts are, in tennis terms, carpeted.

"I have never played on this," Camden Hills' Will Meyer said. "Once you get used to it, you are OK, but the first set today, I was trying to adjust to it."

The fourth-seeded Meyer defeated No. 5 Khang Nyguyen of Foxcroft Academy in the quarters 6-2, 6-2, and Andry Vykhodtsev of Thornton Academy 4-6, 6-1, (10-5) in the Round of 16.

The carpet affected the ball mostly.

"The ball really skids," Meyer said. "You have to have shorter swings. If you get it deep, it's hard to get your opponent to return it."

Second-seeded Matthew Morneault of Falmouth — who defeated Ethan Stockwell of Scarborough 6-2, 6-0, and No. 7 Charles Segal of Greely 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 — said he had to speed up his responses because of the skids.

"I had to react earlier," Morneault said. "I just really focused on seeing the ball early."

Mavor said she had to watch where she hit the ball.

"I have never played on this service before," Mavor said. "It was very fast, there were some dead spots where it didn't bounce. My opponent I just played hits it very low, it kind of skids. So it felt I had to get 10 times lower on my shots."

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