Bishop Guertin's Kaitlyn Nichols fires a backhand return during the Cards' 8-1 Division I prelim round win over city rival Nashua North on Friday. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

NASHUA – The road to the Division I semifinals isn’t going to be as easy as it has been in the past for the Bishop Guertin High School girls tennis team.

Or the finals, for that matter.

The Cards, who have been a Final Four team in 2018 and 2019, took the first step on Friday with an 8-1 win over Nashua North.

But now the water gets a lot deeper. The players on the BG ladder were likely looking forward to playing Nashua South in the quarterfinals, since the Panthers edged them a month ago.

But alas, Hanover came to Nashua on Friday and blanked South 8-0, so now BG will take on the Marauders on Monday at BG.

But hey, the Cards, though perhaps not as strong as they were in 2018 (Division I runnerup) and ’19 (loss to Derryfield in semis) are always up for a challenge.

“I’m feeling confident with the team, they’ve been working hard all season,” Cards coach Barry Ndinya said. “They’re a close knit group, they like working hard together as a team.

“Today was same as regular season (as a result, BG wins of 7-2 and 8-1) but they played better today. I’m thinking they’re hyped up because it’s playoffs.”

Guertin made quick work of the Titans (7-8) before the rains came, taking five of six singles to clinch. BG’s No. 1, Katelyn Nichols, blanked Ashley Groh 8-0; Hannah Gilbertson defeated Andrea Milani 8-2 at No. 2; Natalie MacSweeny downed Lillian Azevedo 8-1 at No. 3, and Laura Bucci downed Sanya Rane 8-2 at No. 4. Abbey Linskey won at No. 6 8-0 over Ashley O’Young, and that was all BG needed.

North got a win from Caitlyn Mamos 8-6 over Sophia Sears at No. 5 singles.

BG swept the abbreviated doubles. Only one match, at No. 3, was played to completion as Linskey/Alexa Pesiridis blanked O’Young/McKenzie Smith at Nol 3, 8-0. The Cards’ No. 1 tandem of Nicols/Gilbertson was up 7-5 on Groh/Milani and No. 2 MacSweeny/Bucci was leading 6-5 over Azevedo/Rane when the courts became too slippery from the light rain and it was agreed to call the matches with the teams ahead declared the winners.

Despite the ouster, North coach Bob Viens was happy with the progress his team made this year.

“Especially the freshmen, and these two juniors (Goh and Milani) have come a long, long way,” Viens said. “We had a real nice season and a good group of freshmen coming up.

“They (Guertin) have had the group together. That makes a big difference.”

Ndinya knows that Bedford is the “overwhelming favorite” as they beat BG twice 9-0.

“But we still want another shot,” he said. “We have a young team, only two seniors (Gilbertson and Nichols) and one junior.”

Will they develop as the nucleus of a couple of years ago did?

“That’s the hope,” Ndinya said. “Bedford gives us motivation to keep working.”