They finally made it to the altar. All that was left was a lift of the veil for a ceremonial kiss.

In this case, the altar was the Class L boys tennis title match, and the kiss was the finishing touch on an undefeated season.

The grooms were, of course, the Blue Devils of Salem. And they left no doubt who the best men were.

On Wednesday, May 28, Salem, a team that had never reached the state title contest in the program’s 57-year history, won it, defeating upstart Londonderry, 5-4, to wear the crown.

“They showed their tennis maturity in being steady on the court,” said Londonderry coach Bill Knee, who noted the Blue Devils could have easily folded in pivotal situations, but instead maintained their composure throughout.

That was never more evident than in doubles action. Tim Briggs and Jordan Faulconer fell to Londonderry’s No. 3 unit, 8-1, and the No. 1 duo of Michael Cohen and Bobby Pike had lost an early 3-0 lead and were trailing, 7-6.

Joel Vastl and Jeff Bunker, in No. 2 doubles, were ahead 6-1, but fell in back-to-back games to let their opponents back into the match. They quickly rebounded, however, and secured an 8-3 victory and the Class L title.

The team briefly cheered, then watched Cohen and Pike play out a 9-8 tiebreaker loss.

That’s when the real celebration began; each player was presented a medal and the team hoisted its trophy high.

“I was so nervous … to the point I didn’t even want to watch,” said Michael Jolicouer, Salem’s head coach. “But it was really a great, great victory over a great team that really fought right to the end.”

Experience, said Bunker, keyed his team’s success this season.

“Everyone out here has been playing at least two years at the varsity level, and we work so well together,” he said. “I mean, we know how to pull each other out of the biggest slumps we can get ourselves into and get our heads back on our shoulders.

“Last year we thought we could do it, but there was still some doubt,” he added. “But even then, we were talking about how this would be our big year.”

Not one player, said Bunker, took the opportunity for granted. Prior to doubles, Salem’s No. 1, Cohen, did an about-face, winning his match against Alex Burbine, 8- 2, after losing to the same foe, 8-0, earlier this season.

Bunker, the Blue Devils’ No. 2, won, 8-5, and Pike held off his opponent, 8-6.

Though Vastl and Briggs each lost, 8-3, and 8-6, respectively, Chris Correia assured Salem’s edge heading into doubles with an 8-5 victory.

Cohen and Bunker, said Jolicouer, were central to the team’s success this season. Though Bunker was the No. 1 last year, the two flipped positions after Cohen won an early-season challenge match.

“We kind of expected they would have a rivalry all year long,” said Jolicouer. “But Bunker really thrived at (No.) 2 and he said, ‘You know, if Mike is having a hard time at No. 1, I’ll challenge him and I’ll try to take the position back,’ but it never happened. The team just really jelled.”

Bunker played doubles with Vastl the last two years. This season, the two bandana-clad standouts went undefeated together.

“Joel is a hockey player that plays tennis, and Bunker is a tennis player that plays tennis all year round, so last year was a little bit rough getting Joel out of that hockey mentality because the tennis season is so short,” said Jolicouer. “But you can see they’ve really come together and thrived. They’re both big kids, they’re athletic, they have good, hard serves, and hey, look at their record, you can’t really say much more than that.”

If Cohen and Bunker were the soul, and Vastl was the muscle, then Pike, said Jolicouer, was the heart.

“He’s just been amazing,” said the mentor. “He never stops battling, he’s put guys in check when he’s needed to, and he’s just been a great inspiration for our everyone out there.”

While Briggs was solid at No. 5 all season, Correia wasn’t the team’s No. 6 at the beginning of the year, said the coach, but challenged and earned the spot. He didn’t lose a match.

“Some of the seniors were a little concerned he didn’t have the experience, that he was a junior, and yet he just came out and was professional about taking over the job,” said Jolicouer. “Hands down, our most improved player from last year was Chris Correia.”

Now that the season is complete, Jolicouer admitted the Blue Devils’ success this season surprised even him.

“I didn’t expect to go undefeated, certainly not,” he said. “I mean, there are some really good Class L schools out there. It’s hard to win, let alone go 17-0, so when we got to about 10 wins, we just stopped talking about it.”

Enough said.