It’s a familiar spot for one team, a new challenge for another, but two area boys’ tennis programs punched their tickets to their respective NHIAA division championships with semifinal victories on Memorial Day.

No. 2 Kearsarge (16-0) continued its perfect season with a commanding 8-1 victory over No. 3 Gilford (12-4) to advance to its third consecutive Division III finals appearance, while No. 2 Bow (14-2) advanced to its first ever Division II championship match with a narrow 5-4 victory over No. 3 Oyster River (13-3). 

Kearsarge will play No. 1 Plymouth (16-0) in a rematch of last year’s D-III championship, a match the Cougars lost to Plymouth, 6-3, while the Falcons will play No. 1 Lebanon (15-1), the team responsible for Bow’s only two blemishes.

Kearsarge and Plymouth will play at Memorial Field in Concord on Wednesday, the same venue as last year’s finale, while Bow and Lebanon will do battle at Alvirne High School in Hudson on the same day.

Neither Kearsarge, nor the undefeated Bobcats have been especially challenged in D-III this year. The Cougars’ closest matches were 6-3 victories, with the majority of their wins being 9-0 or 8-1. The same goes for defending champs Plymouth, although the Bobcats had one 5-4 victory, albeit against D-II Kennett.

For Kearsarge head coach Lynn Miller, it comes down to two things: preparation and doubles. 

“It’s all about preparation. I think it’s going to be a close match. I don’t know if either one of us have had that many close matches this year,” Miller said. “I don’t really have concrete information about this year, but you pick up on coaches’ tendencies. (Plymouth) is pretty athletic. They tend to be very aggressive at the net. We’re going to be ready for that. Try to get the first punch in, instead of being on the defensive, especially in the doubles. It could come down to doubles.”

That’s exactly what happened in last year’s D-III final. Kearsarge and Plymouth split the singles, with the Bobcats sweeping all three doubles matches to close out the 6-3 victory.

In Monday’s semifinal, sophomore Liam Miller (8-1 at No. 1), junior Thomas Shepherd (8-1 at No. 3), senior Graham West (8-3 at No. 4), and freshmen Eli Whipple (8-2 at No. 5) and Billy Reid (8-4 at No. 6) all won their singles matches, claiming the victory for the Cougars before doubles was contested.

Miller and senior Davis West won 8-6 at No. 1 doubles, Shepherd and Graham West won 8-4 at No. 2, and Whipple and Reid closed out the sweep with an 8-2 win at No. 3.

Davis won the No. 3 singles match, while twin brother Graham won at No. 4 in last year’s championship, the only two returning players who earned victories over Plymouth. The West brothers, Miller and Shepherd were also on the Kearsarge squad that won the D-III title in 2021 with a 6-2 win over Trinity.

It’s a familiar spot for the Cougars, but it’s a brand new challenge for the Falcons. Bow made the D-III finals every year from 2011-14 and played in back-to-back finals in 2017-18, with a title finally coming in 2018, but this year’s squad has reached a new milestone in D-II.

It’s been a much more competitive path for the Falcons, who defeated Oyster River, 6-3, on May 17 to secure home court advantage through the semifinals, and had an even closer battle in Monday’s semifinal.

“(Oyster River) made a few adjustments, but we stuck with our roster,” Bow head coach Jay Yvars said. “We’ve got a really good team and we persevered. It came down to the doubles and we pulled it off.”

Seniors Dom Jurcins (8-0 at No. 1) and Cy Yvars (8-2 at No. 2) had commanding victories at the top of the singles ladder, but it was tight the rest of the way. Ben Rondeau won 8-4 at No. 3, but the Oyster River swept the bottom half of singles to tie the match, 3-3, heading into doubles.

The Falcons suffered an additional loss when senior Sam Fauteux broke his wrist during his 8-5 loss at No. 5 singles, forcing him to sit out and coach Yvars to shuffle his lineup.

Sophomore Trevor Abel, typically a singles player only, shook off an 8-6 loss at No. 6 singles and stepped into Fauteux’s spot at No. 3 doubles with fellow sophomore Patrik Jurcins.

Jurcins and Abel won the deciding match, 8-4, while older brother Dom Jurcins and Yvars won 8-0 at No. 1 doubles.

“The Nos. 4-6 can mix and match and our No. 7 can jump in,” coach Yvars said, speaking to the depth of his team’s talent. “We’ve got kids this year who really want to play. That’s been the biggest difference.”

The Falcons will play Lebanon in Wednesday’s championship, a team that’s beaten Bow twice, 8-1 and 7-2, although both of those matches were completed on May 1 due to rain delays.

“What we’re going to have to do is play our game, not Lebanon’s game,” coach Yvars said. “It will be competitive. We’re a different team than we were last time. If we play our game we’ll be fine.”

Like coach Miller, coach Yvars also expects D-II’s championship to go right down to the wire, adding that “It will come back down to doubles, I believe.”

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