Falmouth's Sofia Kirtchev, Matt Morneault win singles tennis state titles

WATERVILLE — The final return went into the net, and Falmouth’s Sofia Kirtchev walked to the net in victory with a slow pace, and a hand pressed against her stomach.

Exhaustion, and relief.

Kirtchev, the No. 1 seed, fought through a lingering illness to win the girls state singles tennis championship Saturday afternoon, defeating No. 2 Molly Tefft of Brunswick, 6-2, 6-3 at the indoor courts at Colby College.

“I can’t express how grateful I am to be here, as well as how proud I am of myself,” Kirtchev said. “It’s really my family and my friends that pushed me through this whole thing.”

Moments later, sophomore and boys top seed Matt Morneault made it a Falmouth sweep, defeating second seed and friend Will Meyer of Camden Hills, 6-3, 6-4.

“It’s a great feeling,” Morneault said. “I’ve played with Will since we were little kids. … I just know his game. We’ve played so many times that I know what to do, and I know how to play my game too.”

Kirtchev was working through a bout of food poisoning from earlier in the week, and after Friday’s matches was dehydrated and needed an IV. She gutted out a 6-3, 6-2 semifinal victory over Hampden Academy’s Zoe Castrucci before facing Tefft, a 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 winner over Boothbay’s Laura Chapman.

Falmouth coach Larry Nichols saw Kirtchev was limited.

“When she’s healthy, she’s a beast,” he said. “Her shots, not only do they have power, but the placement, you’re not quite sure where she’s going with it, which makes it really hard to defend against her.”

The junior had to adjust.

“It was a bit disheartening for me to see that the power in shots that I usually use to my advantage (wasn’t) working today,” Kirtchev said, “so I had to really capitalize on some defensive hitting and angles.”

She did just that, breaking Tefft on back-to-back serves to win six straight games in the first set after dropping the first two. She then won the last three games of the second set to break a 3-3 tie and clinch the title.

“There’s some skill sets involved, but it’s more of a testament to her mental toughness that she relies on,” Nichols said. “It’s a tool, and she uses it.”

Morneault, a tennis player essentially from birth — his mother, Erin, was a four-time singles finalist at Cape Elizabeth before playing at Columbia — dropped his first game to Meyer but won the second by defending his hard ground strokes before lacing a winner down the left side. He then bounced back from a 3-2 deficit to win a hard-fought second set.

“He’s got an insane forehand. I was just trying to keep up with it,” said Morneault, a 6-1, 6-3 winner over Kennebunk’s Alberto Cutone in the semifinals. “My biggest strength was my second serve. I had only one double fault, I could always trust it, I used it as a first serve sometimes. And I would also say my backhand, it held strong.”

Meyer, a 7-5, 6-2 winner in the semis against Yarmouth’s Andre Violette, praised Morneault’s ability to both attack and defend.

“He just does a good job of getting the ball deep, and pushes you back,” he said. “(He was) getting every ball back. No matter if he was trying to rip it back or float it back, every ball was coming back. His defense is incredible.”

Tefft had the longest semifinal win of the day, outlasting Chapman in three sets that took nearly two and a half hours.

“It’s so nerve-wracking, especially when you win the first set and lose the second set, because you don’t have the momentum,” she said. “I just had to reset (and) go into that third set thinking ‘zero-zero, (it’s) my match.’ “