BOW – The semifinal was coming down to doubles, and that was just fine with Bow’s Lauren Goyette and Miah Munro.
“Lauren and I have been practicing a lot, working on our net game, so we were excited for doubles,” Munro said. “And I think today we showed what we’ve been practicing.”
The top-seeded Falcons only needed to win one of the three doubles matches against No. 4 Oyster River to clinch Friday’s Division II girls’ tennis semifinal. And it was Goyette and Munro who did it, claiming an 8-2 decision at second doubles for the decisive fifth point in Bow’s eventual 6-3 team win.
After reaching three straight Division III finals, and winning the last two, the Falcons (16-0) will now play in the D-II final on Wednesday. Bow has won 51 straight matches over the last three years and two divisions, a streak that figures to be put to the test in the final against No. 2 Portsmouth (15-1), whose only loss was a 5-4 decision in Bow on May 9.
The Falcons weren’t sure what to expect from this season after moving up to a new division, and they definitely were not imagining that doubles would be a strength in the semifinals.
“At the beginning of the season doubles was a weakness for us,” Bow coach Jonsey Rainville said. “But the girls have definitely improved, especially number two doubles.”
The key to their improvement has been moving at the net to pick off floating balls with winning volleys. Both players did it throughout their match on Friday, and Munro finished things off by stepping into an overhead at the net to smash a winner on match point, clinching the doubles win for her and Goyette and the team win for the Falcons.
“I was really happy with Miah’s confidence going for balls at the net. She was doing exactly what we’ve been practicing,” Goyette said. “It was just really great playing with her and even through she made a few mistakes and so did I, we stayed in it and we would keep each other going. It’s a good feeling when you have someone who is there for you like that.”
Munro and Goyette have an unfair advantage when it comes to athletic chemistry – they were also soccer teammates at Bow.
“We’ve played sports together all four years,” Munro said, “so I’m always so excited going into doubles. I love playing with her so much.”
The Falcons may be feeling good about their doubles, but their strength is still the depth of their singles play. That showed against Oyster River as No. 4 Munro, No. 5 Alyssa Harpring and No. 6 Isabelle Dolcino all won by 8-0 scores.
“We do count on the depth of our team,” Rainville said. “Two through seven on our team are interchangeable, they really are.”
The Bobcats (12-4) answered those wins on the bottom half of the ladder by taking the top two matches, but not without a fight. Oyster River’s Marian Bulkley, one of the best players in the state, pulled out an 8-6 decision against Olivia Parzick at No. 1, and Lavinia Palmer fought for a 9-7 win against Bow’s Emma Conley at No. 2. Despite the loss, Rainville said Conley, “played the best match of her career,” against the talented Palmer.
That left Goyette and Kirsten Bornkessel on the court at No. 3 in a match that was tight early until Goyette figured things out for an 8-4 win.
“It was one of the tougher matches I’ve ever played, physically and mentally, because she was a lot like me,” Goyette said. “The whole match I was like, ‘How do I beat myself? How do I beat myself?’ And it was very tricky, but I found that what worked was what my coach Jonsey says all the time, just stay in the point.”
Oyster River’s Bulkley and Palmer won, 8-4, at first doubles against Parzick and Harpring. And Bow’s Conley and Dolcino picked up an 8-3 win at third doubles to round out the scoring.
D-III Semifinals
Girls’ Tennis
No. 2 Littleton 7, No. 3 Kearsarge 2
Key players: Kearsarge – Estelle Chmura (8-1 win at No. 6 singles), Becca MacDowell, Felicia McSweeney
Highlights: McSweeney, a senior captain, and MacDowell both lost tough, 8-6 singles matches as Littleton clinched the semifinal win with a 5-1 edge in singles. Chmura capped her solid individual day by teaming with MacDowell for an 8-1 win at third doubles.
Coach’s quote: “It was a great opportunity for such a young team to experience what the playoffs is all about. I feel that we can only learn and build from here.” – Kearsarge’s Liz Lincoln
Records: Kearsarge 14-3; Littleton 17-0