Lebanon
With memories of last June’s narrow loss to Portsmouth in the NHIAA Division II title match still fresh in their minds, the second-ranked Raiders dispatched the third-seeded Clippers, 5-2, in a D-II semifinal at the Carter Community Building Association courts.
It didn’t come easily: Lebanon (16-0) required a pair of come-from-behind singles decisions to set the table for an eventual match-clinching win from Jacob Peress and Terran Campbell at first doubles.
Campbell, Noah Didehbani, Ben Ask and Noah Ryder provided the other points for Lebanon, which will meet No. 1 Oyster River in Tuesday’s championship tilt at Bedford High School. The Raiders and Clippers (14-2) abandoned Thursday’s remaining doubles matches after Lebanon secured the victory.
“The kids know; the kids have the potential to go to back-to-back state championships,” second-year coach Mike Haxton said. “How close were they last year? This is what we’ve been striving all year for.”
The difference between a title and runner-up status last June: three tiebreaker losses in the final three matches of an eventual 5-4 defeat. Lebanon wanted to avoid that fate this time around, knowing the strength Portsmouth had at the top of its ladder.
It didn’t look good early. Of Lebanon’s top four singles players, only Didehbani came out with a dominant display, jumping to a 7-2 lead before earning an 8-4 defeat of the Clippers’ Josh Epstein at No. 3 to put the Raiders on the board.
After Portsmouth leveled through Jason Madeira’s 8-4 win at fourth singles over Owen Johnstone, the afternoon’s two key matches fell Lebanon’s way.
First came Campbell, who at No. 2 surrendered his opening three games to Jack DiPietro before rallying for an 8-6 win. Peress nearly added to that, falling into a 6-1 hole against Clipper ace Garret Husslage and rallying to within 7-6 — denying a Husslage match point in the process — before the 6-foot-4 Portsmouth junior prevailed, 8-6.
The left-handed Ask provided the second decisive domino. With Lebanon holding a 3-2 lead following Ryder’s 8-1 dominance at No. 6, Ask reeled off his final four games out of a 5-4 deficit to beat the Clippers’ Tighe Clough, 8-5, to leave Lebanon one victory from eliminating the visitors.
“You can just look at the scores, every single one of them … but we got all the close matches,” Peress said. “We played really tough today. Portsmouth were really tough last year; they were still tough today. We just got a little bit over them.
“Last year, we were a very young team, had a lot of sophomores, only one upperclassman on the whole team. This year, we’ve all matured, we’ve all gotten a year older, another year to mature, to try to overcome our mistakes from the last year. Our players did very well today.”
Campbell’s victory held particular symbolism. In last year’s state championship, the angular junior saw a 7-4 lead evaporate against DiPietro, who then pulled out one of the tiebreaker decisions that eventually sent the D-II state plaque east to PHS.
Sticking to his trademark game of long baseline rallies on Thursday, Campbell again tested DiPietro’s patience and pluck. Campbell finally caught his foe at 6-6 and outlasted him over two more games to win.
“That was huge,” Haxton said. “I basically thought, between the four of them, we’d split. Wasn’t sure, 1 or 2, but I figured we could get one of those matches, and at 3 or 4, we should get one of those matches. We should be 2-2 going into my 5 and 6, and that’s where I felt we had our advantage.”
Peress and Campbell played the edge well against Portsmouth’s DiPietro and Madeira. The Clipper duo showed some fight after dropping four of the first five games and had their counterparts at deuce in the eighth game, but an unforced error allowed Lebanon a service break for a 6-2 lead. Peress and Campbell rolled from there for an 8-2 victory.
“Terran has been one of my close friends for a long time,” Peress said. “Going down 3-0 (in singles) with all of the Portsmouth fans sitting right next to him, he showed incredible courage and toughness to come back and win with all of his opponents shouting in his face. I’m very, very proud to be his teammate.”
A similar performance on Tuesday, and Peress will be able to call all of his Raider partners something else entirely, a label yet to be hung on a Lebanon boys tennis team.
Champion.
Net Points: The Bobcats stayed perfect at 16-0 with a 5-4 win over upset-minded Souhegan in Durham, N.H. Oyster River needed a win at third doubles to get past the fourth-ranked Sabers. … The two finalists haven’t met since the Raiders recorded a 7-2 win over the Bobcats in last year’s D-II semifinals at the CCBA. … Husslage had been out for a couple of weeks with an energy-sapping illness, only returning for Portsmouth’s quarterfinal defeat of Goffstown on Wednesday. He nearly overpowered Peress with howitzer forehands before, as Clipper coach Seab Stanton said, Husslage hit the wall: “He was playing incredibly well, dominating the match, then at 6-1 completely ran out of gas. … It was a really gutsy performance from him.” … Expect both teams to be strong again in 2017. Lebanon didn’t put a senior on the court on Thursday, and Portsmouth had only one in Epstein. … Thirteenth time’s the charm? Haxton has coached 11 state runners-up in Rhode Island to go with last year’s near-miss with the Raiders. “I just said to these guys, ‘I’m tired of being the bridesmaid,’ ” Haxton joked. … Tuesday’s title match starts at 4 p.m.
Greg Fennell can be reached at gfennell@vnews.com or 603-727-3226.