Courtesy photo Bishop Guertin's tandem of Amy Maalouf, left, and Claire Reynolds are all smiles after winning the state doubles championship on Thursday.

The area took one out of two in the state high school doubles tournament on Thursday at Derryfield School.

Bishop Guertin’s tandem of Amy Maalouf and Claire Reynolds captured the state girls doubles crown, topping the No. 1 seeded Bishop Brady team of Sydney Herrington and Rachel Achong, 6-1, 7-6 (8-6 tiebreaker).

However, the Souhegan boys doubles team of Matt Lapsley and Sam Goddard, seeded second, fell for the first time all season, bowing to Bedford’s No. 1 seeded duo of Rohit Yerram/Jason Boucher, 6-4, 6-3.

Before Reynolds and Maalouf reached the finals, the third seeded Cards duo recorded their second win over Bedford’s team of Carly Citron/Caroline Herz in a week. Thursday it was 6-1, 6-3 in the semis; during the team finals match won by Bedford, Reynolds and Maalouf recorded an 8-1 win against them at No. 1 doubles.

According to Cards coach Barry Ndinya, that team finals match last week set the tone.

“They were being very aggressive, it carried over, Bedford could never adjust,” Ndinya said.

“It also worked in the finals. They had nothing to lose. They knew Sydney was going to come out and play real hard, so they got even more aggressive. And it worked.”

Meanwhile, the finals loss for Lapseley/Goddard means that Lapsley won’t be able to capture the coveted tennis triple crown (team, singles and doubles titles). He goes for the singles crown on Saturday at Southern New Hampshire University.

Yerram and Boucher got two big service breaks, one in each set, that made the difference.

“It was probably the best doubles match I’ve seen in high school tennis,” Souhegan coach John Kilgore said of Thursday’s boys final. “The quality of shot making was excellent, the strategies were flawless. Bedford owned a few more shots than Souhegan, allowing them to close out each set.”

In the semis, Lapsley and Goddard cruised past Pinkerton’s fourth ranked tandem of Seb Tonini and John Marineau, 6-1, 6-2.

Reynolds and Maalouf will also be competing in the state girls singles semis/finals on Saturday, also at 2 p.m. at SNHU.

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