BY RYAN O’CONNORBruce Berk said he doesn’t keep track of his Derryfield School boys tennis team’s successes from year to year. Maybe he’s just lost count. The Cougars have reached the state final 15 of the last 18 years, and they have 12 titles in that span, including the last six. Most recently, they wore the 2008 Class ...

BY RYAN O’CONNORWinning a state tennis championship is a tough enough task. Six individual players have to do their part, then change their approaches and play doubles – generally immediately following an intense singles match. Now, take away two of the starting six and, subsequently, one of three doubles units. That’s what ...

BY RYAN O’CONNORHe was expecting the call, but he still had his fingers crossed it wouldn’t come.It did. CJ Beck picked up the phone. “Remember that bet you made,” said the voice on the other line. “We didn’t forget.” So Beck paid up. West High School’s No. 2 boys tennis player shaved his ...

BY RYAN O’CONNORAmong his 32 years coaching the Central boys tennis team, Mark Telge had to admit this season was one of the most gratifying. After all, the mentor said three of his six starters never picked up a racket prior to this season. Another had never played competitively. Yet there the Little Green were, in the state semifinals ...

BY RYAN O’CONNORBill Cannon thought – his heart racing – the defending state champs might just pull off the comeback. Down 4-2, needing three wins in doubles action, the Central girls tennis team fought handand- raquet with Concord. Central singles No. 1 Margaret Teague and No. 3 Justine Beaudoin faced match point, trailing 7-5 ...

BY RYAN O’CONNOR Entering the season with three starters who never played tennis before, even Mark Telge had to question his team’s chances to be competitive in Class L. Yet 13 contests into the season, the Little Green have compiled an 9-4 record and almost assuredly locked up a postseason berth. This, after the they ...

BY RYAN O’CONNORSteve Houle and his Lady Blue Knights aren’t happy with last year’s playoff result, and they plan on spending this entire season rectifying it. After a fine 2007, West tennis fell in the Class L semifinals to city rival and eventual state champ Central. Now, Houle said the pieces are in place to sweeten last ...

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 ...

BY MATT STOUT Steve Houle isn’t fooled by the score, and anyone who looks beyond it, the Manchester West girls tennis coach said, will see why. “You look at court No. 6 (singles), which was an 8-2 match,” Houle said following his team’s 7-2 win over No. 4 Concord in the Class L quarterfinals on May 24. “That was a ...

BY MATT STOUT Moments after they clinched another Class L title with a 5-2 win over Manchester West on Tuesday, May 29, members of the Concord boys tennis team grabbed a blue jug filled with water, snuck up behind head coach Dave Page to douse him – and missed. You’d think they have it down by now. But the Crimson Tide ...