The Maine Principals’ Association has rescheduled four of its six North regional team tennis finals, but the good news is the moves had nothing to do with COVID-19.
Reasons more typical of the time of year, such as late-spring heat and conflicts with graduation-related activities, prompted the MPA and its tennis committee to meet Monday and revise its schedule for the North finals. All of those matches originally were scheduled to be held Tuesday at Lewiston High School.
“You don’t always have good solutions but at least this one is one we’ve dealt with in the past so you have some thoughts and people are willing to help out as best they can,” MPA Assistant Executive Director Mike Bisson said.
“Probably people are more patient right now than they’ve ever been just knowing all that everybody’s dealt with over the last 16 months,” he said.
The Class A finals, featuring the top-seeded Hampden Academy boys (13-1) against third-seeded two-time defending regional champion Camden Hills of Rockport (14-0) and the No. 1 Brunswick girls (13-1) against No. 3 Hampden Academy (11-3), will try to beat the heat with their originally scheduled 8:30 a.m. start times on Tuesday in Lewiston.
The Class C North finals, originally set for 12:30 p.m. Tuesday, now will be played later the same day and during the early evening at Schenck High School in East Millinocket. That change was made in part to avoid the hottest part of the day as well as to ease travel demands on the teams involved.
Schenck’s tennis facility has four lighted courts to allow for evening play when conditions should be cooler.
Top-ranked George Stevens Academy of Blue Hill (11-1) faces No. 3 Van Buren (8-0) in the boys final at 4 p.m., followed at approximately 6 p.m. by the girls title match between top-seeded and two-time defending state champion Mattanawcook Academy of Lincoln (12-0) and No. 2 Orono (12-2).
“We’re going to play the boys match first because they have the farthest to travel,” Bisson said. “Looking at the options it didn’t make sense to have Van Buren drive to Lewiston to play a 6 or 7 o’clock match.”
The Class B North finals were moved from Lewiston to Hampden Academy‘s four-court complex and pushed back to Thursday. The change comes because of the predicted heat and senior-class schedule conflicts at Waterville High, the No. 1 seed in both the boys and girls fields, Bisson said.
The Waterville boys (14-0) face No. 2 John Bapst of Bangor (13-1) at 9 a.m., followed by the Waterville girls (14-0) against No. 3 Caribou (14-0) at noon in the region’s lone battle of the unbeatens.
Bisson said MPA officials are taking a wait-and-see approach with the South regional championships, which are scheduled for Wednesday at Lewiston’s eight-court facility.
“If the weather looks like it will be terrible on Wednesday, we’ll move some of the matches around, maybe until later in the evening, because they have lights at Lewiston, or we could move them to Thursday if there are thunderstorms,” he said.
Class A South matches remain set for 8:30 a.m. Wednesday with the No. 1 Falmouth girls (13-1) against No. 3 Kennebunk (9-3) and top-ranked Kennebunk (14-0) against No. 2 Thornton Academy of Saco (13-1) in the boys match.
Class C South finals are scheduled for 12:30 p.m. with the top-ranked Hall-Dale of Farmingdale girls (12-0) against No. 3 Waynflete of Portland (8-6) and the top-seeded and 12-time defending state champion Waynflete boys (12-1) against No. 2 Maranacook/Winthrop (12-0).
The Class B South championship matches at 4:30 p.m. will match the defending state champion and top-seeded Yarmouth boys (13-1) against No. 3 Greely of Cumberland Center (10-4) and the No. 1 Cape Elizabeth girls (12-1) against No. 2 Yarmouth (11-3).
The state finals are set for Saturday at Lewiston High School with Class A at 8:30 a.m., Class C at 12:30 p.m. and Class B at 4:30 p.m.
