By Roger Brown
MaxPreps.com
Hanover and Portsmouth were the two best Class I boys tennis teams during the regular season, and they proved to be the two best teams in the Class I tournament as well.
Top-seeded Hanover (16-0) and second-seeded Portsmouth (16-0) will meet in the Class I final Tuesday (4 p.m.) at Concord's Memorial Field.
Many consider Hanover to be the best team in the state regardless of classification, but the Portsmouth program is 33-0 since the school dropped from Class L to Class I two years ago.
Hanover advanced by trouncing Pelham, 9-0, in Saturday's semifinals. Portsmouth, last year's Class I champion, breezed to a 5-1 victory over third-seeded Con-Val in the semis. The three doubles matches weren't held because Portsmouth had secured the victory after singles play.
"Con-Val's a good team," Portsmouth coach Dana Levenson said. "This was very competitive. When it got nip and tuck with some of the points, our guys executed.
"What can I say? As a coach I couldn't be more pleased with the effort."
Top-seeded Salem will face sixth-seeded Londonderry in Wednesday's Class L championship. That match will be held at The Derryfield School in Manchester.
The Class M-S championship was decided Saturday, when top-seeded Derryfield captured is sixth consecutive title by beating second-seeded Gilford, 8-1. It was Derryfield's 15th appearance in the championship match in the last 18 years.
Derryfield finished with a 15-1 record. Gilford completed its season at 13-3.
"I said to the kids, 'Don't take this for granted," Derryfield coach Bruce Berk said. "We will never be here again with these guys on this day."
No. 1 Alex Green, No. 2 Than Moore, No. 3 Henry Morgan, No. 4 Carsten Christandl, No. 5 Akask Vadalia and No. 6 Anuj Vadalia all posted singles victories against Gilford. Greene, Moore and Morgan each completed the season with an unbeaten record.
Girls Tennis: Derryfield Overcomes Adversity
Although it was without two of its best singles players – sisters Camille and Aislinn Smith had a family commitment – top-seeded Derryfield nipped second-seeded Inter-Lakes, 5-4, to win the Class M-S girls championship Saturday.
No. 3 Emily Mastrogiacomo and No. 4 Sadie Fowler were each moved up a spot in the singles ladder and each produced a victory. Mastrogiacomo and Fowler also teamed up for an 8-1 victory at No. 2 doubles.
Derryfield, which has won two of the last three Class M-S championships, finished its season with a perfect 16-0 record. Inter-Lakes ended up at 14-2.
The Class I and Class L championships will both be decided Tuesday. No. 4 Bishop Brady will meet No. 3 St. Thomas at Concord's Memorial Field to decide the Class I title, and No. 1 Londonderry will face No. 3 Concord at The Derryfield School in the Class L championship match.
Lacrosse: It's Tournament Time
Tournament pairings for the boys and girls lacrosse tournaments will be released Tuesday.
The boys tournament will start Wednesday with quarterfinal-round matches at the home of the higher seed. The girls tournament will begin Thursday, also at the home of the higher-seeded team.
Five teams will enter the postseason unbeaten in league play: the Bishop Guertin boys (13-0 in Division I), the Portsmouth boys (14-0 in Division III), the Souhegan girls (12-0 in Division I), the Bow girls (12-0 in Division II) and the Portsmouth girls (14-0 in Division III).
