Bedford, n.h.
What started out as wet finished as a win for the Lebanon High boys tennis team on Tuesday afternoon. Backed by a senior core making its third consecutive appearance in a state final, the top-ranked Raiders completed their second straight undefeated NHIAA Division II championship season with a 7-2 victory over No. 2 Portsmouth at Bedford High School.
Where depth ruled in last year’s victory over Oyster River, excellence at the top of the ladder set up Tuesday’s title. Seniors Jacob Peress and Terran Campbell grabbed their singles matches in solid fashion to help Lebanon (17-0) to a 4-2 lead, later combining for the title-clinching decision at first doubles to cap their final high school match together.
The Clippers (15-2) competed without ace Garrett Husslage, who missed Tuesday’s final after coming down ill on Monday night.
“Obviously, it feels really good,” Peress said. “It feels like there’s a little bit of an asterisk just because Garrett wasn’t here, which is kind of sad for Portsmouth especially. I think that both teams wish he could have been here, but obviously (I’m) really happy to win another state championship and graduate on a good note.”
Lebanon coach Mike Haxton didn’t learn of Husslage’s absence until the Raiders stepped onto the Bedford hardcourts. That trumped any uncertainty related to the weather; Lebanon left town in a steady rain, but never felt a drop over the 90 or so minutes required to put Portsmouth away.
“My daughters live down here; I was calling them and they were, ‘Dad, it’s just overcast,’ ” Haxton said afterward. “Once we got past Warner, it started to lighten up. Once were in Concord, you could see it, and there was no rain expected here until midnight. I’m glad to get it in.”
Senior Noah Didehbani and Danish exchange student Lasse Bisp provided Lebanon’s other singles points. The Raiders guaranteed themselves something from everyone when junior Owen Johnstone and senior Noah Ryder battled back for an 8-6 win at second doubles over Portsmouth’s game Jack Madden and Nick Shultz to close the afternoon.
Peress and Campbell both have grown as tennis players in the 12 months since Lebanon’s last title run. Campbell is taller, lankier and boasts both a more capable serve and greater shot-making skills, all of which he applied in typically metronomic fashion during an 8-0 shutout of Portsmouth’s Jason Madeira at No. 2 singles.
Peress, meanwhile, has evolved from a defense-first athlete to one able to choose his moments to attack. Facing normal Portsmouth No. 2 Jack DiPietro rather than Husslage — and armed with a Campbell scouting report built from three years of past experiences — Peress never trailed in an 8-4 victory.
DiPietro hurt himself at the start, double-faulting twice to give Peress an opening service break. Lebanon’s captain then put his array of shots to work: He used a backhand winner for a 3-1 lead, pulled off a cheeky underhand serve to take his next service game and clinched his decision with a forehand crosscourt winner.
“Twelve months ago, I was a lot more of a defensive player,” Peress said. “I didn’t really hit a lot of aggressive shots on the forehand or backhand side, but now I’ve started to take the ball earlier. I hit with more topspin, try to hit more winners than I used to. It’s a lot more entertaining to watch than it was 12 months ago.”
The Campbell and Peress wins secured the 4-2 lead through singles play. Lebanon split the rest, Didehbani topping Shultz at No. 4, 8-6, and Bisp conquering Max Hitchcock at No. 6, 8-4. Portsmouth’s Madden grabbed a 8-3 decision over Johnstone at No. 3 and Matt Leger took an 8-3 win from Ryder at No. 5 to keep the match close early.
Portsmouth coach Anthony Sillitta felt the Clippers suffered from Husslage’s absence, but he didn’t blame the defeat on that alone.
“He was in the ER last night and tried to make it a go this morning, and just couldn’t,” Sillitta said. “He wasn’t himself today, and no one’s more upset about that than him. … I’m more heartbroken for him not to have the experience, because I think all of the guys focused today and played a little bit better and harder for him.
“We didn’t lose today because we didn’t have one player. We lost because they had a better team.”
Peress and Campbell took control of their doubles match with DiPietro and Leger with a four-point break in the fourth game followed by four straight points on Peress’ serve for a 4-1 lead. The longtime Lebanon duo, friends as much as tennis partners, broke their foes twice late on the way to a championship-clinching 8-2 win.
“It’s been four (varsity years), and we even played together in eighth grade a little bit when I first started playing tennis,” Peress said of Campbell. “I’ve known him since first grade, and we’ve been good friends pretty much for 12 years. It feels really good to do it with him.”
Peress, Campbell, Didehbani and Ryder close high school careers that included two championships in three finals appearances and just two defeats in three springs. Tuesday’s win also marked an end for Bisp, whose family is returning to Denmark in August after the conclusion of his parents’ two-year work assignment with the Novo Nordisk pharmaceutical firm.
Bisp took up tennis at Lebanon because “I didn’t know what lacrosse was at all, I didn’t want to play baseball — I find it too boring — and I didn’t want to do track and field. Tennis was something else for me.”
He returns home owner of a pair of state championship medals and holder of an important role as a regular in Haxton’s lineup after part-time action last spring.
“That meant so much, to achieve,” Bisp said. “I was still part of the team (last year), but playing all of the matches, coming to the state championship, playing in the state championship, being part of deciding who was going to win, it was really, really fun to play.”
On a day absent of meteorological shine, Lebanon gladly played in the reign.
First Serves: Didehbani linked with Ryder for an 8-3 win at third doubles moments after Peress and Campbell completed their match. The Noahs provided the clinching point in last year’s championship win over Oyster River. … The Raiders own a 49-2 record over the past three years. Portsmouth inflicted one of those defeats in the 2015 D-II final, 5-4, taking three tiebreak-decided matches en route to the title. … The Clippers arrived in a small, white bus with a tennis ball affixed to the grille. … Both Didehbani and Bisp competed in bucket hats. Ryder employed a reversed baseball cap. Peress rolled in pink socks bearing what appeared to be penguins on them. … Both Peress and Didehbani had strings break on their rackets in the days leading up to the final. … Sillitta is the tennis director at the Great Bay Athletic Club in Newmarket. His coaching resume includes stints at Dover’s St. Thomas Aquinas High and the University of New Hampshire varsity programs. … Lebanon also graduates three other seniors — Graham Chickering, Peter Elder and Noah Forman — who were newcomers to the varsity this spring.
Greg Fennell can be reached at gfennell@vnews.com or 603-727-3226.