Potvin wins 2nd straight title Hampden junior overcomes injury

LEWISTON – The splint on Eliot Potvin’s left wrist was seen by some at the Wallach Tennis Complex over Memorial Day weekend as a possible sign of vulnerability.

But for the Hampden Academy junior, it was merely another source of motivation.

Potvin shook off his injury to capture his second consecutive state schoolboy tennis singles title Monday with a 6-3, 6-3 victory over freshman Mike Hill of Mount Ararat of Topsham in the championship match.

“I was kind of worried coming in,” said Potvin, “but I’m happy I was able to fight through it.”

Potvin plays righthanded, but normally uses a two-handed topspin backhand as one of his major weapons. But because of the two partially torn tendons he suffered in his left wrist while training two weeks ago, he had to resort to a one-handed slice backhand.

With its backspin the slice is a less aggressive stroke, but it still served Potvin well as he regularly hit the low-bouncing shot deep in the court to prevent Hill or semifinalist Neall Oliver of Deering of Portland from taking advantage.

“I just tried to keep him on the court as long as possible, win on my serve and definitely hit to his backhand because of his injury,” said Hill, the No. 3 seed. “But once he got going he just starting pulling away. He just kept hitting winners.”

With the win Potvin becomes the first two-time boys state champion since Ian Robinson of Brewer won in 2001 and 2003, and the first boys player to win back-to-back titles since Eric Blakeman of North Yarmouth Academy won four straight from 1987 through 1990.

Potvin won’t try to make it three in a row next spring, as he plans to train with several international junior tennis standouts at Bosse Sports, a tennis center located in Sudbury, Mass., and complete his high school studies online.

“It was a tough decision,” said Potvin, who is ranked third in New England and 63rd nationally in the U.S. Tennis Association’s 18-and-under division. “I was going to come back and play soccer next year for the high school and obviously tennis, too, so I was torn because I didn’t want to leave my friends and teammates and school.

“But I realize that I might be able to do something pretty special with my tennis moving on to college, and I want to be in the best position possible to get into the best school I can.”

Potvin, who won three straight-set matches Saturday to reach the semifinals, withstood a break point trailing 3-2 on serve against Oliver, a sophomore who was seeded fourth. Potvin won that break point with a backhand volley and proceeded to win 10 of the last 11 games for a 6-3, 6-1 victory to advance to the state final for the third straight year.

“If I won that game and went up 4-2, it would have boosted my confidence, but there’s no guarantee I would have won the set or the match,” Oliver said. “From there he catapulted himself. He started going for more big shots and making big shots.”

Potvin struck early in the final against Hill, who had defeated No. 2 Parker Swenson of North Yarmouth Academy 6-2, 6-4 to reach the title match.

Potvin broke Hill’s serve in the third game of the first set for a 2-1 lead, and used a powerful first serve, a high-bouncing kick serve and a strong backhand to take control of the match.

“I felt like once I got rolling the momentum would keep me going through the match, and that was the case,” said Potvin. “I broke at love in the third game of the match and went from there.” Potvin won the first set, then took a 4-1 lead in the second set before Hill finally broke serve and then held to draw within 4-3. It was a short-lived rally, as Potvin used a forehand winner to break for 5-3 and then served out the match.

“My kick serve today, and in that last match especially, was better than it has been,” Potvin said. “It was jumping way up, and I was happy with that because it gave me a lot of free points and took a lot of pressure off my first serve. That was a big difference, with me being able to hold serve easily for most of the match, and I could step in and hit his second serve.”

Christine Ordway, a freshman from Waynflete School in Portland, won the girls singles title with a 6-1, 6-4 championship-match victory over No. 2 Kristen Meahl of Falmouth.

“I was trying to be really aggressive, and trying to take the ball early and come to the net and put the ball away,” Ordway said. “It was really hot, so I didn’t want a lot of long points.”

Ordway reached the final with a 6-1, 6-3 win over No. 4 Chantalle Lavertu, a freshman from Lewiston. Meahl, a senior, advanced to her second straight state final with a 6-4, 6-2 semifinal win over unseeded Falmouth teammate Hallsey Leighton.