PORTLAND — Rosemary Campanella of Wells and Dariy Vykhodtsev of Thornton Academy were not surprised that they had just advanced to the championship matches of the Maine Principals Association Schoolgirls and Schoolboys Tourmament, respectively.

How they got there? That is another story.

First off, the title matches. Campanella met up with Falmouth’s Julia Brogan, who was looking to keep the title in the possession of the Yachtsmen after former standout Olivia Leavitt had captured the Schoolgirls title the past three seasons.

Tied 1-1 in the opening set after each player failed to hold serve, Brogan broke back and kept rolling, capturing a 6-1, 6-0 victory and the championship over Campanella, who had to settle for second.

“She was in control of the whole match,” said Campanella, who was broken on each of her serves. “My serve is a big advantage in my game and it was not working in my match.”

“It was such a relief,” said Brogan of her win after reaching the semifinals two of the past three seasons. “At the 5-0 changeover in the second set, I told myself ‘just four more points.’ I lost a point at love-40 and just knew that I had to get to that next point.”

Brogan did, watching as Campanella’s forehand return found the net. Brogan bent over and let out a scream in relief.

Campanella, facing top-seeded Lana Mavor of Yarmouth in the semifinals, moved on to the title match after Mavor was forced to retire due to an upper body injury. Campanella was playing well, leading 4-0, when Mavor bent over at her knees and moved around in obvious discomfort. After a five-minute delay, Mavor shook Campanella’s hand and wished her good luck.

Campanella, who played for the newly-formed Kennebunk/Wells team this season, had nearly three hours to kill, with the title match slated to begin in the afternoon.

“I stayed to watch the matches, left to have food, and just tried to relax,” said Campanella, who reflected on her season, which has come to a close. “I was not expecting this coming into the tournament. It feels really good to come this far.”

Boys

On the far court inside the Racquet and Fitness Center, Vykhodtsev sent a hard forehand that had Falmouth’s Nick Forester trying to reverse his course for a return. Instead, Forester tumbled to the ground. Two games later, Forester reluctantly shook Vykhodtsev’s hand, forced to retire while trailing 5-4.

“I felt bad because I know how hard he worked to play this season,” said Vykhodtsev of Forester’s injury.

Onto the final went the No. 3 seed, facing top-seeded and two-time MPA Schoolboys finalist Nick Mathieu. In a back-and-forth matchup, Mathieu ended his finals slump, taking a 6-4, 4-6, 6-2 win. He joins former Eagle and mentor Mike Hill as a Schoolboys champ, with Hill capturing the title from 2007-09.

“It feels pretty good,” said Mathieu, who had lost the past two finals to Falmouth’s Brendan McCarthy (2014) and Waynflete’s Isaac Salas (2015). “The final point felt awesome as I was able to go up the line for a winner. That was a great final, one of the best in a while.”

Vykhodtsev didn’t allow Mathieu’s power to deter him, standing inside the baseline on Mathieu’s powerful first serves and making the Eagles top player work for every point.

“I tried to do my best to stay in every point. I wanted to just get his serve back in and stay in the point,” said Vykhodtsev. “Today was the highlight for me. I played good, but my opponent played a little bit better.”

“I don’t ever look at the other side of the net, wanting instead to focus on my serve, but his returns often came back pretty fast, so I had to shorten my swing,” said Mathieu. “He is an all-around good player and will always be a threat. We have played before and we always seem to go three sets. He will win the state tournament and is one of the best players in the state right now.”

In the opening set, Vykhodtsev was hurt by eight double faults, including three in his final service as Mathieu broke, then held serve for a 6-4 win.

Thornton Academy’s top player kept fighting, breaking Mathieu twice in the middle set, including the final game for a 6-4 victory.

But, the Eagles junior had an answer in the final set, jumping out to a 4-1 lead on the strength of two breaks of service. Leading 4-2 after Vykhodtsev broke back, Mathieu hit a winner to go up 5-2 before serving at love in the final game to close out the match.

“He puts more time into this than anyone, and it is well invested time. He was real close last year,” said proud Mt. Ararat coach Don Foley.

Vykhodtsev’s season is far from over, as his undefeated Thornton Academy squad will face the Class A South preliminary winner between Westbrook and Biddeford in the quarterfinals later this week. Mt. Ararat is in the postseason as well, scheduled to travel to Mt. Blue for a Class A North quarterfinal on Thursday.

SMAA holds girls doubles final

The Thornton Academy girls doubles team of Pilar Salcedo and Claudia de la Hoz Garcia fell short in the SMAA Doubles Championship held in South Portland on Monday morning.

The TA duo dropped their finals match 6-1, 6-2 to Gorham’s Avery Arena and Lauren Poirier.