For the second straight season, the Lebanon girls tennis team finds itself an unlikely champion.
The No. 5-seeded Raiders, who started the season with just three girls with varsity tennis experience, outlasted No. 2 Gilford to win 5-4 and claimed yet another D-III New Hampshire state title at Memorial Park in Concord on Wednesday evening.
With the title on the line, Lebanon’s No. 1 doubles team of senior Mariana Utel and sophomore Samyra Graber clinched the championship with a win. Lebanon led 4-2 after the singles matches, but Gilford fought back to win two doubles matches to set up a dramatic finish.
“That’s how it should,” Lebanon head coach Rob Johnstone said. “It’s the two best teams, and it’s the four best players from the two best teams when everything else is done and everybody’s watching. … I mean, who could ask for better than that?”
The championship match was almost a reversal of last season, when it was Gilford who had the 4-2 lead after the singles matches, only to see the Raiders sweep the doubles and claim the tile.
But Utel and Graber denied the Golden Eagles a similar comeback.
“I was concerned because I remember last year we were down 2-4 going in, and we were able to clutch up with all the doubles,” Utel said. “I knew that it might have to come down to Sam and I’s doubles. So I just told her, we have to win this for our team and we can’t rely on anyone else to get it for us. And I think just that mentality of knowing that we can’t rely on anyone else helped us carry through.”
While his squad didn’t come into the season with a tennis pedigree, Johnstone attributed the team’s repeat run to a state title to athleticism and attitude.
“You have to have athletes. We have athletes,” he said. “Two, you have to have the proper support system within the team, meaning from the other players and the attitude of fighting for everything. And third is the tennis. You know, you can teach someone to get the ball back relatively quickly. You can’t teach that fighting spirit.”
Johnstone, who has coached the Lebanon boys soccer team for decades but only recently took on the tennis role, also heaped praise on his assistant coach Rick Hines.
“He’s a tactical genius,” he said.
Lebanon won four of the six singles matches with Utel, Graber, senior Payton Breedlove and senior Anna Hanna notching victories.
Other members of the team include junior Shaya Kiridena, sophomore Megan Vallee, senior Maezie Angles and freshman Cassidy Sexton.
“I’m feeling amazing,” Utel said afterward. “It’s such a great way to end my senior year and my tennis career as a high schooler, and obviously winning two years in a row is awesome.”
