SACO — Like a tennis match that goes the distance, Victor Menezes Wednesday was divided into three sets. And as he’s been doing all season, the Thornton Academy junior won the day in straights.

After starting his day at 10 a.m. in Portland with a 6-1, 6-0 victory over Scarborough’s Roy Garland in the boys tennis state qualifying round, rescheduled from last Saturday due to rain, Menezes raced back to Saco to start a three-hour Advanced Placement Environment Science test at noon.

Menezes then still had enough in the tank for the Golden Trojans’ regularly scheduled SMAA tennis match against Biddeford in the afternoon, beating Kenny Reyes 6-0, 6-1 in the No. 1 singles match as Thornton swept its rival 5-0 to improve to 9-1 on the season.

When his match against Reyes ended at 5:41 p.m., approximately 461 minutes after his first shot of the day against Garland, it was the end of an eventful but fruitful day for Menezes, who improved his own personal record to 11-0 on the season with the pair of victories.

“It was a busy day, a long day,” Menezes said. “I was kind of afraid if everything would work out, because if something happened and the (Garland) match went long, I knew I would have to default. I just had to focus, and it ended up going perfectly.”

Menezes showed why he’s dropped just one set all spring in the match against Reyes, using a powerful serve to pick up easy points and breaking in all six of Reyes’ service games.

After dropping the first set in six straight games, Reyes found a way into Menezes’ serve in the first game of the second set, getting things to 30-30 before Menezes double faulted and hit a forehand into the net to give Reyes the game.

But Menezes responded by breaking to get back on even terms, and then ran off five more games in quick succession to take the straight-sets win in a match that lasted just under 40 minutes.

On the heels of a 6-3, 6-2 victory over Deering’s Tyler Butler ”“ who went into that match with a record of 8-1 ”“ on Monday, it was the third big win in three days for Menezes, who will meet fellow undefeated Ogden Timpson in a de-facto SMAA singles championship match when the teams meet in the regular-season finale next Tuesday.

“I think I’ve been playing my best,” Menezes said. “All the work I’ve been doing for the past five years is paying off and I’m getting results. This group helps me with everything, so I feel supported and just have to go on the court and do my best.”

The best match of the afternoon was at the No. 1 doubles as Thornton’s Eric Gooch and Will Caras went back and forth with the Tigers’ Josh McCauley and Adam Michel.

Gooch and Caras broke with the first set tied at 3-3 and went on to win it 6-4, but Michel and McCauley responded with their best tennis of the day to begin the second, breaking the Trojans pair three times as they raced out to a 5-1 lead.

Thornton fought back to make it 5-4, but Biddeford held on as Caras made the last of several Trojans unforced errors in the set when pushed a forehand just wide on set point to even the match at 1-1.

“We made a lot of errors, and they played well in the second set,” Gooch said. “We came back and made it 5-4, and then just gave them that last game.”

But Caras’ and Gooch’s good play from the end of the second set continued into the third as they won four-straight games to take a commanding 5-1 lead. Michel and McCauley held to make it 5-2 and got to break point in the next game, but Caras was able to hang on to his serve, and Gooch sealed things with a spike at the net on match point.

“We definitely came out a little flat-footed in the first two sets and played more free in the third set,” Caras said. “The third set is definitely something to take into the next match because that’s the way we should be playing.”

Caras and Gooch had suffered their first loss of the season in the match against Deering, falling to the Rams’ Will Week and Jordan Roche 3-6, 6-4, 2-6. Bouncing back in another tough three setter was a good sign for the pair heading into this Saturday’s SMAA doubles tournament, Trojans head coach Andrew Carlson said.

“I think some guys felt like they maybe could have performed a little bit better for us in that (Deering) contest,” Carlson said. “As a coach, you’re always worried about how they’re going to respond to that, and today they played point to point and took that step. Biddeford brought its best game and they stumbled a little bit, but they didn’t panic and righted themselves.”

Thornton’s other three victories all came in straight sets.

Like Menezes, TA’s second doubles pairing of Simon Belliveau and Dylan Gooch also stayed undefeated by beating Brady Huot and Chris Charest 6-2, 6-2, while David Parran, who earlier in the day also advanced out of the state qualifying rounds by knocking off Kennebunk’s Joseph Beaudoin, topped Biddeford’s Ashton Collins 6-1, 6-1 at the No. 2 singles and Jared Waterhouse beat the Tigers’ Will Durkin 6-2, 6-2 at No. 3.

The defeat dropped Biddeford to 3-8 on the season, but the Tigers are still clinging to 11th and final playoff position in Western Class A and could all but ensure themselves of a postseason berth with a win over 2-8 South Portland on Friday, when Thornton will host 7-3 Marshwood.

The Trojans will then travel to Scarborough on Tuesday to take on the 9-1 Red Storm in a match that will determine the No. 3 seed in Western Class A ”“ and give one side or the other plenty of momentum ”“ heading into the postseason.

“Marshwood’s going to challenge us, and then Scarborough is a big match for us,” Carlson said. “We’ve been pretty consistent this year. The pieces have fit together, the personalities have fit together and the talent has fit together, and it’s just allowed us to be successful.”

— Staff Writer Cameron Dunbar can be contacted at 282-1535, ext. 323 or cdunbar@journaltribune.com.