High school tournaments todayBoys’ tennisDivision II first roundNo. 7 Pinkerton Academy (10-4) at No. 2 Concord (13-1), 4 p.m.
Head to head: The Crimson Tide beat the Astros, 7-2.
Notes: These two met on May 13 at Memorial Field, so there won’t be many unknowns. Concord won five of the six singles matches in that regular-season meeting, clinching the match before doubles began. The Tide’s one singles loss came from No. 2 Aidan Connor, but he fell by a narrow 9-7 score despite being under the weather and facing a tough opponent. And Connor did come back in doubles and teamed with No. 1 Justin Toler, one of the top players in the state and the Tide’s leader, for a 8-3 win at first doubles against Pinkerton. The Astros are steady and mentally tough, but they can’t match Concord’s firepower.
Division II first roundNo. 5 Coe-Brown (11-3) at No. 4 Souhegan (11-3)
Head to head: The Sabers beat the Bears, 6-3.
Notes: Coe-Brown traveled to Amherst on Wednesday and the result, that 6-3 loss, means the Bears have to make the road trip again as the lower seed. That win was part of an eight-match winning streak Souhegan used to close the season and claim that No. 4 spot. Coe-Brown will have its hand full trying to reverse last week’s result, but five of the Bears’ six starters were on last year’s quarterfinal team, so they have playoff experience and their season-long goal has been to make a run in this tournament.
Division III first roundNo. 7 Inter-Lakes (9-5) at No. 2 Bow (13-1)
Head to head: The Falcons edged the Lakers, 5-4
Notes: These teams faced off in the regular-season finale four short days ago. It was the second 5-4 win of the week for the Falcons, who haven’t lost since April 15 when they fell to the top-seeded and undefeated defending champs, Gilford. Bow’s singles wins against Inter-Lakes all came from the bottom of the ladder: No. 4 Owen Molind, No. 5 Aditya Shah and No. 6 Jack Olson, a trio that has been producing lots of wins for the Falcons in the second half of the season. The Lakers were missing their No. 5 and No. 6 players against Bow, but the Falcons like their chances matched up against the bottom of any ladder in D-III.
No. 6 Portsmouth Christian (10-4) at No. 3 Kearsarge (11-2)
Head to head: The Cougars beat the Eagles, 5-4.
Notes: This season marks an impressive turnaround for Kearsarge, which went 6-8 last year and missed the playoffs. First-year Coach Lynn Miller has had plenty to do with that, and the Cougars also had lots of experience coming back and a tough top-two with No. 1 Tyler Valovic and No. 2 Tucker Valovic. Kearsarge’s match with Portsmouth Christian came in the season opener, so it’s hard to take too much from that meeting, but the Cougars have to expect a challenge.
