For basically an entire decade, the NHIAA Division I boys tennis championship has gone through Bedford. The Bulldogs had won eight straight titles dating back to 2013, the same year Hanover won its most recent championship, back when the Bears played in Division II.
No. 1 seed Hanover ended Bedford’s reign Thursday with a 6-3 victory at Southern New Hampshire University in Manchester, avenging a loss to the Bulldogs in the 2019 final and completing a perfect season at 17-0. The Bears’ top three singles players — seniors Evan Yang, Alex Rockmore and Kevin Pillsbury — were all on that 2019 team that came achingly close.
“This year, they got their revenge,” Hanover head coach Jarrod Shaheen said in a phone interview. “They were able to close the circle. That’s one of the things that is most poignant for me about this situation. There was the COVID year, there were the canceled tournaments, and this year, they did it. It doesn’t get much better than that.”
Shaheen had especially high praise for Rockmore, who he said struggled in singles throughout the season but won a tiebreak against one of the best players in the state, Logan Mack.
Yang and Pillsbury both lost their singles matches, with Yang’s also going to a tiebreak, but the Bears’ Nos. 4 through 6 singles players — senior Charlie Birkmeyer, sophomore Zach Pearson and freshman Sam Ames — all won decisively, with Birkmeyer and Ames each winning 8-1 and Pearson 8-3. The No. 1 doubles team of Yang and Rockmore then clinched the championship with an 8-4 victory.
Hanover’s four seniors — Yang, Rockmore, Pillsbury and Birkmeyer — are going out on top.
“Delivering the first title since moving to Division I, providing steady, supportive leadership for the team, being role models, playing tennis the right way, respecting opponents — they’ve left some really big shoes to fill,” Shaheen said of the seniors’ legacy on the program.
Benjamin Rosenberg can be reached at brosenberg@vnews.com or 603-727-3302.