BY GREGOR WALZ
Bedford boys tennis cocaptain Courtney Mountifield believed the Bulldogs’ semifinal- round match with Hanover on Saturday, May 30, was the true championship match.
“The semifinal should have been the finals because we were the two best teams,” said Mountifield.
Still, Bedford was outmatched by a more experienced Hanover squad that defeated the Bulldogs, 7-2, on Saturday, May 30, before taking the state title with a 5-1 win over No. 2 Souhegan.
Accounting for Bedford’s two victories were Mountifield’s 8-5 win at No. 1 singles and Kyle Bouskas’ 8-6 triumph at No. 6. Hanover swept the doubles competition.
Though they earned the No. 1 seed without a senior on the roster, the Bulldogs saw No. 5 Hanover, a perennial power, as the team to beat in the playoffs.
“As a program, we exceeded expectations by getting a No. 1 seed,” said co-captain Myles Utell. “But we were still the underdogs in today’s match. (Hanover is) definitely
the top team.”
Despite the individual victory, Mountifield, who missed a large portion of the season with a wrist injury, said the end of the season was disappointing.
“I think we could have won,” he said. Bedford head coach Shawna Morley also sees the loss as a missed opportunity, but she’s confident the second-year program is clearly heading in the right direction.
“We gave ourselves an opportunity to win today,” said Morley. “Player to player, we were the best team with a chance to upset (Hanover).
“Just making the semifinals this year, it leads to a bright future,” Morley added. “The boys now have more hunger.”
Mountifield and Utell don’t have to wait for next year. The co-captains compete this weekend in the individual state playoffs in both singles and as doubles partners.
The Bulldogs finished the season with a 13-3 record and ended the regular season in a four-way tie atop the standings with a 12-2 mark.
Morley said the credit for the young team’s unprecedented success belongs to a variety of groups in town.
“It’s so neat how Bedford tennis has become the real deal,” said Morley. “It really is a strong tennis community.”