EXETER – Concord lost three of the first four singles matches and was staring at the end of its season. But then Becky Cistulli won at No. 1 and, at the other end of the ladder, Irene Escobar pulled out a tiebreaker win to level things as No. 5 Concord and No. 1 Exeter headed to doubles in Friday’s Division I girls’ tennis semifinals.
“We were pumped after Irene won,” Cistulli said. “We were so happy we were like, we can do this, all we have is doubles and we’re so good in doubles.”
The Tide girls are good at doubles and they played like it on Friday. There was just one problem – Exeter is good at doubles, too. The Blue Hawks (16-0) won two of the three doubles contests to claim a 5-4 win and advance to Wednesday’s final against defending-champion Bedford (16-0).
“Our doubles (were) good, but Exeter just played better,” Concord Coach Greg Coache said.
Last year the Tide beat the Blue Hawks in the semifinals in Exeter. But when the two met in the season opener this year, the Blue Hawks won, 6-3. Concord (12-4) closed the gap some during the spring, just not enough.
Exeter’s first two points came from No. 2 (Kate Lietz 8-4 over Alex Killinger) and No. 4 (Ashley Keaveney 8-4 over Olivia Cattabriga).
Concord struck back when Colleen Casey pulled out an 8-6 win against Zoe Pantazelos. The match went back and forth for the first half before Casey opened up a 7-4 lead. But Pantazelos wasn’t making things easy and fought back to win the next two games.
“Even though Colleen gave back those two games, she never lost confidence,” Coache said.
With Pantazelos serving and down 6-7, Casey had a match point at 30-40 and even had an overhead shot to win it, but Pantazelos scraped out the point with a lob winner and forced deuce. But Casey wasn’t deterred. She kept coming to the net and claimed the next point with a volley winner and she took the match when a Pantazelos pass attempt found the net.
“Colleen has been huge for us all year long,” Coache said. “She doesn’t get upset when someone passes her, she just says, okay, next point. So her mental game is fantastic.”
Exeter’s Sophia Scola then beat Sabrina Hart-Meyer, 8-4, at No. 5 to give the Blue Hawks a 3-1 edge and a chance to close things out in singles, but Cistulli and Escobar wouldn’t let it happen.
After falling behind, 4-1, Cistulli picked up her energy and found her consistency on the way to an 8-6 win against Melissa Wood.
“The heat was getting to me, but I got a little break during a switch and after that I kept bouncing on my feet to keep myself going,” Cistulli said. “Otherwise I was just slumping around the court and letting her control the points, and that was not working out so well.”
When that singles match finished the crowd at Exeter migrated to the No. 6 court where Escobar and Delaney Cloyd were headed to a tiebreaker. Both players had chances to close out the match before that (Escobar with a 7-6 lead and Cloyd when she was up 8-7), but it was the Concord player who seemed to best shake off the lost opportunity.
Escobar was rock solid in the tiebreaker, running down every shot to build a 6-3 lead. And then on match point Escobar let loose with a big backhand that forced an error and made it 3-3 going into doubles.
“The way I looked at that was, I’m always excited to get to the doubles because we work and work and work on that,” Coache said.
Apparently Exeter puts in doubles work, too.
Pantazelos and Keaveney were extra aggressive at the net at second doubles. And even when Casey and Hart-Meyer handled that aggression and put the Blue Hawks under pressure, the Exeter duo found a way to win all the key points on its way to an 8-1 win.
It was a similar story on the third doubles court where Cattabriga and Escobar played well, but Scola and Cloyd simply played better. The Exeter team hit with pace at the Concord net players and hammered the overheads that came their way to take quick leads of 3-0 and 4-1. Concord got to within 7-3 and forced the last game to three deuces before Scola and Cloyd took an 8-3 win that clinched the match.
Cistulli and Killinger rounded out the scoring with an 8-3 win against Wood and Lietz at first doubles.
“I wish we were back in the finals, but this has been a really good season,” Cistulli said. “I’m really proud of our team.”
From coaches’ reports
Spaulding 6, Concord 4, 8 inn.
Key players: Concord – Griffin Gilbert (6 IP, 3 runs, 2 earned, 5 hits, 5 K), Jared Grondin (RBI), Eli Boyle (RBI), Christian McClellan (RBI)
Highlights/key moments: The Tide took a 4-2 lead in the bottom of the sixth only to give it up in the top of the seventh. Spaulding then scored two in the eighth for the win.
Coach’s quote: “Very proud of the kids tonight. They battled all night long, we just came up a little short.” – Concord’s Scott Owen
Records: Concord 5-13; Spaulding 7-11
Oyster River 4, John Stark 1
Key players: John Stark – Egan Nickerson (6 innings, 7 K, no earned runs)
Highlights/key moments: Three John Stark errors led to all four of Oyster River’s runs. On the offensive side, the Generals mustered only one hit all afternoon.
Coach’s quote: “Egan pitched outstanding once again. Our defense was a little off so he had to work extra hard today. We are definitely a little tired, so the weekend off from baseball will be great for us.” – John Stark’s Dennis Pelletier
Records: John Stark 12-4; Oyster River 9-7
Campbell 7, Hopkinton 6
Key players: Hopkinton – Kyle Slevira (3-for-4, 2 RBI), Will Rhynhart (2-for-4, 2 RBI), Alex Lajeunesse (2-for-2, 2 RBI, 2 BB), Dustin Rose (2-for-3, BB), Kolin LaPage (2-for-4, RBI)
Highlights/key moments: The Hawks collected 13 hits against Campbell’s ace, Griffin St. Onge, but they also stranded 10 runners and squandered a one-run lead in the bottom of the sixth. The Cougars opened up a three-run lead before Hopkinton responded with three in the fourth on two walks, two bunts and a slap hit from Rynhart, after he was showing bunt, that floated over the head of the charging second baseman, landed on the infield grass and brought home two runs. The Hawks will now wait for the D-III tournament brackets to be released to see who they will play in the opening round.
Coach’s quote: “We won four of five and we’re starting to hit better, so we should be all right.” – Hopkinton’s Dave Chase
Records: Hopkinton 8-9; Campbell 15-1
Monadnock 5, Bow 2
Key players: Bow — Jeff Bell (2-for-3), Ryan Murray (2 RBI, 4innings of shutout relief)
Highlights/key moments: Monadnock jumped out to a 4-0 lead after three before the Falcons got two back in the fourth, but that was all they would get.
Coach’s quote: “We didn’t play awful, but whenever we made mistakes (Monadnock) capitalized.” — Bow’s Dennis Ordway
Records: Bow 11-5; Monadnock 12-4
Softball
Campbell 9, Hopkinton 2
Key players: Hopkinton – Sam Brewer (1-for-3), Kasey Smith (1-for-3), Alexis Blanchette (2 RBI), Grace Gauthier (solid defense)
Highlights/key moments: The Hawks trailed 3-0 entering the third, but soon pulled to 3-2 to make it interesting. The game remained close until the sixth when Campbell broke it open with a four-run inning.
Coach’s quote: “As always, Campbell is a strong team. We had our chances but couldn’t seem to get the big hit or make the big play.” – Hopkinton’s Dan Meserve
Records: Hopkinton 9-7, Campbell 12-4
Hopkinton 15, Campbell 5
Key players: Hopkinton – Joe Cullinan (5 goals, 3 assists) Owen Kanter (4 goals, 2 assists) Tim Jones (3 goals), Sam Schuster (goal, 2 assists), Prince Mansah (goal, assist), Bowman Ridinger (goal, great defense) Jake Hemmerlein (great defense, 3 groundballs) Joe McCaffrey (great defense) Derek Amoth (18 saves)
Highlights/key moments: The Hawks led 5-0 after the first quarter and continued the hot start, cruising the rest of the way on senior night.
Coach’s quote: “It was a fitting final regular season game for a great group of scholar-athletes.” – Hopkinton’s Deacon Blue
Records: Hopkinton 10-4, Campbell 6-8
Bishop Brady 7, Lebanon 6, OT
Key players: Bishop Brady – Bryce Johnson (3 goals), Rich Sullivan (2 goals), Aidan Plumpton (goal), Connor Dougherty (goal), Colby Garcia (2 assists), Chris Thurber (2 assists), Kyle Cioffi (assist)
Highlights/key moments: In a chippy, evenly-played affair, the Giants came out on top thanks to a Johnson goal one minute into overtime. The game was knotted at three at halftime.
Records: Brady 7-7; Lebanon 4-10
Bow 15, Pelham 5
Key players: Bow — Taylor Darrell (5 goals), Amanda Murray (3 goals), Zoe Jukoski (3 goals), Olivia Krause (2 goals)
Highlights/key moments: The Falcons finished the regular season strong and now have their eye on the upcoming Division III tournament.
Records: Bow 11-3; Pelham 10-4
Hopkinton 15, Campbell 4
Key players: Hopkinton – Amelia Bassett (5 goals, 3 assists Hannah Wood (2 goals, 3 assists), Lyndon Flanagan (2 goals, assist), Chloe Wood (goal, assist), Hannah Bassett (goal), Tess Masci (goal), Ireland Tawney (goal), Lily Hoffman (goal)
Coach’s quote: “The girls played well, we will certainly miss our three seniors. It was a great way to end the season.” – Bow’s Chris Raabe
Records: Hopkinton 6-8, Inter-Lakes 0-14