Telegraph photo by TOM KING Hollis Brookline's Nic Vahe hopes to lead the unbeaten Cavaliers to a Division II title as the tourney gets underway today.

They’ve sailed through the regular season without a blemish. The time seems to be now for the Hollis Brookline High School boys tennis team.

“The players are feeling hungry for the playoffs to begin,” said Cavaliers coach Jim McCann, whose top ranked 14-0 team hosts No. 8 Lebanon today in the quarterfinals at Longfellow Tennis Club in Nashua. “Our playes have improved throughout the season and are playing great tennis right now.”

Remember, the Cavaliers lost last year in the finals at the hands of Souhegan, whom they beat early this season. The defending champion Sabers finished as the third seed at 11-3 and will host No. 6 Con-Val on Tuesday at Jasper Valley in Amherst.

In Division I, Nashua South will hit the road for the quarterfinals after a superb 11-3 season that seeds them fifth. They will visit No. 4 Exeter (12-2) in today’s quarters, which is much better than last year when the Panthers were the No. 8 first round sacrificial lambs for Bedford.

Unfortunately, that role may be filled this year by No. 8 Alvirne (9-5), as the Bulldogs (14-0) are the Broncos’ reward for making the postseason for the first time in recent memory after a fine regular season.

In the girls tournament, Bishop Guertin will look to bounce back from its regular season finale loss to 14-0 Bedford and will host No. 6 Exeter (11-3) in the Division I quarters on Wednesday at 4 p.m. to begin what the Cardinals hope is a return to the finals.

But the match that may be very competitive will be with No. 4 Nashua South (12-2) hosting No. 5 Manchester Central (11-3) on Wednesday. The two teams did not meet in the regular season.

In Division II, the Souhegan girls, who were in the semis two years ago but missed the tourney last year, have returned to the postseason. The No. 6 Sabers (9-5) will visit No. 3 Windham (13-1) Wednesday at 4 p.m.

Here’s a look at how things shape up:

BOYS DIVISION I

The Panthers have used their depth to have one of their best seasons of late, and would love to make the semis, even if it means having to face Bedford. It’s South’s third straight year in the tourney (0-2 the last two).

“Absolutely,” first-year coach Jothan Massey said. “For awhile, (the Panthers) haven’t even gotten into the playoffs. We have a very good one and two, but we have depth too.”

The Panthers have some depth at the bottome three ladder spots where Matt Beaudette, Sukaas Katikameni, and Sahith Kaki have played well, either as regulars or reserves. South’s three losses this season were to Pinkerton, Dover and Concord; Exeter’s losses have been to the two teams projected to be in the finals, Bedford and No. 2 Hanover.

The Broncos deserve lots of credit for a super season, as they’ve stayed the course under coach Mike Coulter. Keys for them this year, besides two three-match winning streaks, have been the freshman Meuse brothers, Peyton and Ashton. They’ve been great at the top of the singles ladder and as a No. 1 doubles team as well.

The Pick: Bedford over Hanover

DIVISION II BOYS

Can the Cavaliers and the Sabers meet in the finals for a second straight season? HB will undoubtedly have th e easier road, as they beat Lebanon as the visiting team 7-2; and it’s likely to be No. 4 Windham (10-3) in the semis for the Cavs, who just beat the Jags 5-1 in a strange, conclusion of a rain-shortened match. Windham should get past Kennett in the quarters, a team it beat 7-2 just last week. The Cavs are strong up top with the one-two punch of Nic Vahe and Darius Paradie, but also have depth below them on the ladder. This is the team McCann thought he would have two years ago, and time for these Cavaliers, mainly junior strong, may have arrived.

“We know there are a number of strong teams out there,” McCann said, “chief among them Portsmouth and Souhegan, but we aren’t looking past anyone.”

The Sabers have a huge hurdle possibly waiting for them in Portsmouth (No. 2, 13-1), whom they easily beat in last year’s semis but lost to 6-3 last week with singles wins at Nos. 2, 3, 4 and 6 at at Nos. 2 and 3 doubles. And then the Sabers played the rest of last week without injured No. 1, Sam Goddard (leg).

“It’s tough to remove the No. 1, it puts the entire lineup in a hole,” Sabers coach John Kilgore said last week. “We were resting Sam, we’d rather have him ready for the playoffs and individual tournament. … Life is not always as planned. We remain optimistic.”

It will be interesting to see if Goddard is back for the quarters, as the Sabers bested ConVal 8-1 at mid-season.

Wonder how the Cavaliers and Clippers made out during the regular season? Well, other than their win over Souhegan, it was the Cavs’ biggest victory of the year, a tight 5-4 win back on April 5 in Portsmouth.

So there will definitely be some intrigue this week.

The Pick: HB over Portsmouth

DIVISION I GIRLS

It certainly looks like Bedford is set for a repeat, because the Cardinals’ goal of possibly avenging last year’s loss to the Bulldogs may have been partially derailed by No. 1 singles player Claire Reynolds missing the entire season with a bad back. Amy Maalouf has filled in admirably and everyone moved up a notch on the ladder below her, and the Cards dominated until their 8-1 loss to Bedford Saturday.

But if you want the Match of the Year, it likely will be Friday when, if No. 2 Derryfield and the Cards win in the quarters, the Cougars and Cardinals meet again in Manchester in a rematch of last year’s big BG semifinal win.

That, really, is Guertin’s biggest obstacle right now.

“I think that’s going to be a very, very close match if we meet,” Guertin coach Barry Ndinya said. “We’re going to really need to play very well and close out matches.”

“I think it’s going to come down to how (players) show up to play on that day,” said Derryfield coach Gus Moral, who loves his team’s depth and commitment. “The conditions of the day, and how they manage the pressure.”

It still could be Bedford’s season again, though, as the Bulldogs bested Derryfield 7-2 during the regular season.

Meanwhile, Nashua South would love to take the next step in their progress the last few years by winning a quarterfinal vs. Central. The Little Green’s problem is the same as the Panthers’ this season: Beating the elite. They lost to Bedford, Guertin and Derryfield all by 9-0 counts.

“I think the regular season shows that you have three elite teams that have made themselves the team to beat,” said South coach Charles Gray, who is looking for strong one-two performances from Kaitlin Fitzgibbons and Meghanna Avvaru. “The rest of us, we’re going to have our best day if we’re going to compete with them. It’s going to be fun. We’re going to try and compete, and not roll over because they’re the favorites.”

But Gray knows his Panthers first have a very competitive match vs. Manchester Central. A win Wednesday means great progress for the Panthers over the last couple of seasons.

GIRLS DIVISION II

Welcome back, Sabers. Souhegan has been led by Lila Morgan and Zoe Garvey atop the ladder and players like Lily Hipp at the bottom.

They got off to a strong 4-0 start and that set the tone. The problem is, the Sabers just lost to Windham 9-0 this past Friday, and that means there will be a lot to make up in the quarters. However, there were a coule of 8-4’s and an 8-5; if those can be turned around, things could get closer.

Unbeaten No. 1 Bow is the clear favorite, having beaten No. 2 Portsmouth (6-3) in the regular season. Windham lost to the Clippers 6-3.

THE PICK: Bow over Windham.

DIVISION III BOYS AND GIRLS

There is no local entry here but it certainly looks like St. Thomas (14-0 in both) could pull off a boy-girl sweep.

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Another local player joined the 100 Club recently in high school girls lacrosse. Merrimack’s Melanie Hutchinson scored her 100th career goal vs. Keene-Monadnock this past Friday, and had two others as well. She also has over 260 career draw controls. The 7-7 Tomahawks are back in action today vs. Dover at 4:30 p.m. at Merrimack.

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In Division I baseball, Bishop Guertin is a fight to make the top four (which would keep the Cards home for the quarterfinals) but their chances look good. They may be the only local Division I team, however, as six-win Alvirne and Nashua South heading into Monday’s games are longshots.

In Division I softball, it’s quite possible Merrimack could be the only local entry (8-6 heading into the week), while Alvirne (6-10) faces a battle to make the 14-team affair. Tough year for softball in Nashua as North, South and Guertin were a combined 5-39 as the week began.