DERRY, N.H. — The question all season for the Lebanon High boys tennis team was whether the bottom two-thirds of its roster could produce enough victories to push the squad over the top. The answer Thursday against top-seeded and undefeated Oyster River in the NHIAA Division II finals: not quite, as the Bobcats prevailed, 6-3.
Brothers Mason and Nolan Arado, the Raiders’ top two singles players and the team’s No. 1 doubles duo, finished the season unbeaten in either format. However, second-seeded Lebanon trailed, 4-2, after singles play and therefore needed a sweep of the three doubles matches to capture back-to-back state crowns.
For a short while, events moved in the Raiders’ favor. The Arados breezed to an 8-1 victory, and the No. 2 pairing of Will Katz and Baden Schifferdecker was up, 4-1. Lebanon’s Seth Carl and Kyle Hines trailed, 3-2, in the third doubles contest but were hanging tough.
Katz and Schifferdecker stayed ahead at 6-3 but collapsed en route to an 8-6 loss. Carl and Hines, a tiny freshman filling in for injured classmate Lavi Halwawala, fell 8-3.
“We knew it was going to be a tough match, but it’s a little frustrating to lose to them again,” said Mason Arado, whose 14-2 team’s only previous loss came on May 13 against visiting Oyster River, 5-4. “Their depth was a lot better than ours today, and they wanted it more.”
The Arados each won their singles matches, 8-1, but Schifferdecker lost by the same score at No. 3 singles. Katz lost, 8-5, at No. 4, Finn Ericson went down, 8-6, at the fifth position and Hines succumbed by the same score at No. 6.
“We were hoping to pull off one of those singles matches that were awfully close,” said second-year Lebanon coach Tammy Amado, mother of Mason and Nolan. “But our boys left it all on the court, and I couldn’t be prouder of them.”
Mason Arado is a senior and Nolan a sophomore. The pair’s shots were delivered with power and accuracy that left their opponents physically and emotionally reeling. The brothers played with an almost insouciant air, showing no signs of stress and joking and mocking each other in the midst of play.
Nolan: “Bro, you suck.”
Mason, a split-second before serving: “Well, you smell like cheese.”
“We just walk on the court and mess around,” Nolan Arado said. “We push each other to do better, and Mom knows we’ve got it and she doesn’t need to come over here.”
The Arado family moved to Lebanon from Colorado shortly before Mason began high school. Tammy and Chad each work at the River Valley Club, Tammy as director of tennis and Chad as the head pro.
“I grabbed a racket the first second I could walk,” said Mason, who’s considering becoming an electrician or a plumber. “We grew up on tennis courts 24/7, but it’s more of a casual sport for me. My brother and I smack balls at each so much.”
Said their mother: “They weren’t tested all year. I think most games in a match that Nolan lost was three and Mason two, so they had the least amount of pressure. They never lost more than one game in a doubles match.”
Tammy Arado said that Katz and Schifferdecker brought energy and intensity to their best doubles performance of the season. She said that Carl and Hines seemed unable to shake memories of their regular-season doubles loss against Oyster River.
“I was trying to push them through that, but they competed well,” she said. “That match was a battle of the coaches telling their players how to play each other.”
Notes: Oyster River finished 17-0. … Mason Arado missed five matches because of being ill with COVID-19 earlier this season. … When Hines was introduced before the match, his teammates jokingly told the Bobcats that the diminutive rookie had recently bench-pressed 315 pounds. Their opponents looked skeptical. … Tammy Arado said she suspects Nolan will play college tennis. “He and his brother have actually played the game from an early age; they didn’t just do drills,” she said. “It’s interesting to watch them strategize better than most kids their age.” … The Arado parents’ online biographies at RVC indicate that Chad “graduated from the professional tennis management program at Ferris State” and that Tammy played for that Michigan university’s women’s team. … Mason Arado and Carl are the team’s only seniors.
Tris Wykes can be reached at twykes@vnews.com.