BY MATT STOUT
Phoebe Lyman had an idea that the Manchester Central girls tennis team’s hopes against Bishop Guertin in the Class L championship hinged largely on her match. But she wasn’t about to let it get to her.
“Even if she did ask (what the score was),” said Central coach Bill Cannon, “I wouldn’t have told her.”
A few minutes later, he didn’t have to.
With an 8-4 win at No. 6 singles, Lyman ensured the Little Green a 4-2 lead entering doubles on Tuesday, May 29, at the University of New Hampshire, where the No. 1 team of Catherine and Margaret Teague finished off Central’s 5-3 victory for the team’s first state title since 1995.
The crown, Central’s third overall, capped a dominant season-long performance in which the Little Green posted a 16-1 record and rolled through rival West, 7-2, three days earlier in the semifinals.
Besides Lyman, Catherine Teague posted an 8-4 win at No. 1 singles, Margaret Teague cruised, 8-1, at No. 2, and Romina Borbotsina prevailed 8-3 at No. 3 to give Central the necessary edge entering doubles play. The Teagues, both undefeated in singles play, also remained unbeaten as a pair.
“That was huge,” Catherine Teague said of Lyman’s win. “I knew we could win in doubles, I knew that Margaret and I could do it. So just to get that win, we could play like we did to finish it up.”
It certainly helped after Guertin salvaged wins at No. 4 over Justine Beaudoin, at No. 5 over Hooksett’s Abby Zorawowicz and later, at No. 3 doubles.
But Central’s confidence never wavered, especially knowing it had hurdled its biggest obstacle a round earlier in West, the only team to beat it during the regular season.
“When we finished the match on Saturday, we were all just so excited to get here,” Lyman said. “On Tuesday we all had our outfits planned out for the school day so we would all wear our uniforms to school. The excitement, it was heightened (from that win over West).”
Now, after Central made good on its first finals appearance since 1996, that feeling has reached its peak.
“Our team just wanted it so bad,” Cannon said. “That’s what it was.”