Lewiston freshman Cole Ouellette went through it all Friday in his first foray into the MPA state singles tourney. And he came away from the experience ready to do it all over again.

After breezing through his round-of-48 match against Alex Chamberland of Winthrop, 6-1, 6-2, Ouellette fell behind quickly in his second-round contest against Ellsworth’s Evan Toothaker, a hard-hitting veteran of the tournament.

“Fell behind” snowballed quickly into “potential quick finish” when Ouellette dropped the first set at love in fewer than 30 minutes.

The scrappy Oullette changed things up, forced Toothaker to hit more shots and rallied for a 6-3 win in the second set.

“I picked it up a little bit, made sure I was more excited,” Ouellette said. “I wanted to try to get it to his backhand, because he’s really solid on his forehand.”

Toothaker’s power and control were ultimately too much for Ouellette in the third, as he won 6-3 to advance to the round of 16.

“I wasn’t getting my first serve in, I double-faulted a couple times,” Ouellette said. “I’m sad that I lost, but I’m happy I made it all this way.”

Ouellette’s Lewiston counterpart in the girls’ bracket, Kyleigh Letourneau, fought through her own troubles after breaking her racket strings while serving in the second set of her first-round match against Claire Valley of Brewer. Ahead by a set after a quick, 6-0 first, she was locked in a battle with Valley in the second — and she hadn’t brought a spare.

“I never break strings, I haven’t all year,” she said in disbelief.

It was Ouellette to the rescue. He lent Letourneau one of his rackets to finish out the match, and she did so in short order, holding off Valley for a 6-0, 7-6 (4) win.

Letourneau’s second match of the day was about to go on when play was halted for the day due to thunder and lightning in the area. Officials stopped nine matches in progress, and 11 matches had yet to begin.

One of the matches that just missed beginning was that of St. Dominic Academy freshman Bethany Hammond. Seeded No. 3 overall in the tourney, hers against Julia Richardson of Windham will be one of the first matches to begin when play resumes Saturday morning.

Her teammate, Callie Greco, topped Amy Segars in her first match of the day Friday before bowing out against No. 4 seed Julia Brogan of Falmouth in the round of 32.

Quick work

Kasey Smith likes to play quickly. With his 6-foot, 5-inch frame and brawn to match, his game is one of power and establishing a presence at the net. Against Bangor’s Kenny Colpritt in the first round, that much was obvious.

“That’s the style of game I like to play,” Smith said. “Get the points over with more quickly.”

After blanking Colpritt 6-0 in the first set, Smith fell behind late in the second, 5-6, before rallying to force a tiebreaker, which he won 7-1.

“I just had to stay with it,” Smith said. “He was starting to wear me down a bit. I just had to stay focused.”

Smith’s next opponent is another unseeded player, Zack Disch of Waterville, a match that was also postponed to Saturday morning. It’s a far better draw for the Monmouth junior than last year.

“I had one of the top players from Falmouth right away in my draw last year,” Smith said.

Scouting the seeds

The top half of the boys’ bracket was decimated Friday when top-seeded Justin Brogan of Falmouth retired from his match with an injury while leading 4-2 in the opening set. Luke Gilman of Cape Elizabeth advanced to the round of 16 in his stead, where he will face Toothaker.

The No. 8 seed, Cameron Butler of Oceanside, also failed to advance, falling to Bryce Tetreault of NYA, 6-1, 6-1.

That leaves Nick Mathieu of Mt. Ararat, the No. 4 seed, as the top player in the top half of the bracket.

The girls’ bracket is much more intact, with all five seeded players who completed their matches advancing into the round of 16 in the top half of the bracket.

Locally speaking

Alyssa White of Mt. Blue won her first-round match over Lauren Doak of Fort Kent earlier Friday. White lost to No. 8 Lena Rich in the second round. Spruce Mountain’s Taylor Boynton was among those whose matches have been suspended. Eryn Doiron of Mt. Blue fell in the opening round to Laura Henny of Scarborough.

On the boys’ side, Sullivan Abbott of Mt. Blue withdrew due to injury, allowing Eli Breed of Cape Elizabeth a walkover to the round of 16. Victor Menezes ousted Spruce Mountain’s David Stone in the round of 48, and Nick Gorey topped Mt. Blue’s Ike Doiron in the same round.

Play is scheduled to resume at 8:30 a.m. Saturday at Colby College.