Hanover boys tennis advances to DI tennis semifinal

HANOVER — The Hanover High boys tennis team rolled past seventh-seeded Keene, 8-1, on Friday at Storrs Pond to advance to the semifinals of the NHIAA Division I state tournament.

Hanover won all six singles matches in dominant fashion, dropping a total of just seven games and winning 48 across the day to erase any chance of an upset before doubles took over. Keene’s No. 1 doubles team won the Blackbirds’ lone match of the day, but the Bears took the remaining two doubles encounters to reach the final score.

The win moves Hanover just a game away from a rematch with top-seeded and undefeated Bedford for the state championship. The Bears lost last year’s final, 7-2 and lost their lone matchup to the Bulldogs this year in a hard-fought 5-4 decision.

“It was a close match, could have gone either way,” Hanover coach Kelly Finn said of the teams‘ meeting back on May 4. “Mental toughness, strategy going into those matches will really help.”

Finn, in her second year coaching the Bears, has amassed an impressive record. The Bears went 15-2 last season without a single upperclassman on the roster, then finished 12-1 this season. Finn credited the influx of freshmen for “making lineup selection really tough … and pushing the guys really hard in practice.”

Hanover returns to action on Tuesday to take on third-seeded Derryfield back at Storrs Pond. The Bears defeated the Cougars, 6-3, in the schools’ matchup earlier this year. A win there would send Hanover onward to the state finals at SNHU on Thursday.