Greater Houlton’s Moakler, Camden Hills’ Stein advance

LEWISTON – A year ago, Greater Houlton Christian Academy’s Erin Moakler was one of the last to leave the courts as sunlight was gradually ebbing away from Bates College’s Wallach Tennis Center.

Saturday, it was an early day for the Eagles’ senior as she was the first to qualify for the Maine girls singles championships semifinal round – a good three hours before any other Round of 40 semifinalist – and didn’t even have to play another match to do so.

Moakler, the tournament’s top seed and defending state champion, advanced into the semis along with No. 5 seed Tracy Nale of Waterville, No. 3 Laura Stein of Camden Hills, and No. 2 Kelly Graham of Kennebunk, after playing just 29 games in two matches.

Moakler will play Nale and Graham will meet Stein in 12:30 p.m. matches at the Waynflete High School courts in Portland Thursday.

Greater Houlton Christian’s senior class valedictorian was ready to play No. 8 seed Jillian Cohen of Brunswick, but Cohen regretfully decided to pull out due to illness. Cohen tried to wait a while to see if she felt better, but still felt sick and opted to forfeit the match.

“Yeah, that was disappointing, but I guess she was really sick,” said Moakler, who is making her third straight trip to the semis. “I should be more relaxed after being here so much, but when I came out here, it didn’t seem that way, especially my second match.”

After winning 12 of 14 games in her opening match, Moakler found herself down 3-0 to unseeded Alex Hardenbrook of Kennebunk. Moakler then regrouped, refocused and won 12 straight to advance. She credited championship experience and offseason improvement for helping her recover.

“I’m a little stronger this year,” said Moakler, who will take her game to Davidson (N.C.) College next fall. “I’ve been working out, which is something I haven’t done consistently the last few years, and that’s helped with my serve.”

While Moakler waited and watched, Nale was making her first charge into the semis by making short work of her first two opponents and then outlasting No. 4 seed Amy Sarrazin of Lewiston 7-6 (7-4) and 6-3 after Sarrazin took a 3-0 lead in the first set.

“I knew I had to mix it up with her, but I also tried to hit it deep and be consistent,” said Nale, who’s attending Colby College in the fall. “Drop shots were a big help when I was able to serve and get to the net.”

Nale said winning the first set tiebreaker was a big lift for her, but she credited the victory to winning three straight games to tie it at 3-3 in the first set.

“I broke her serve twice and that was a big turnaround for me. That gave me some confidence,” she said.

Stein, who is also making her third straight semifinal appearance, made it look easy, but she said it was anything but.

“I wasn’t serving too well, so I took a little off it to try and get it in. I couldn’t go for much else because it wasn’t going in,” she said. “I just wanted to be consistent and not let the points go on too long. That worked in the [quarterfinal’s] first set, but the second set, I got a little tentative and did what I didn’t want to do.”