Abhinav Avvaru will be one of the keys for Nashua South as the tennis tourneys open this week. (Telegraph file photo by TOM KING)

Tennis anyone?

A handful of local high school teams are answering that with a resounding “yes” as the NHIAA boys and girls team tennis tournaments begin today and Wednesday.

The two teams answering the loudest are the Nashua South boys and Souhegan girls. The Panthers are the third seed in Division I, finishing with a 12-2 record and enjoy a first-round bye.

The Souhegan girls are the top seed in Division II and they, too, have a first round bye.

Other local qualifiers include in the boys Bishop Guertin as No. 6 and Nashua North as No. 12, in action today’s Division I prelims. No other locals made the tourneys.

In the girls, locals take up the bottom three of Division I with Nashua South No. 10, Nashua North No. 11 and Bishop Guertin No. 12 and all will be on the road in first round matches Wednesday.

In Division II, Alvirne is No. 5 and will have a home match Wednesday. The other local is No. 11 Hollis Brookline – last year’s runnerup – and the Cavs, too will be on the road.

Boys quarters are Thursday (home of higher seed) and the semis are next Monday (same), with the finals Wednesday, June 1 at Southern New Hampshire University, all times 4 p.m. (but subject to change).

The girls quarters are Friday (higher seed), semis next Tuesday (same) and finals on Thursday, June 3 at SNHU in Division I and Bedford in Division II. Again, 4 p.m. times.

Here’s at look at the Division I and II tourneys involving locals:

BOYS DIVISION I

Panthers coach Dave Santerre expressed confidence in his team after tough losses to the top two seeds, No. 1 Hanover (14-0) and No. 2 Bedford (13-1) to start the season, and he was right as they haven’t lost since. They have depth throughout, led by Santi Somorrostro and Abhinav Avvaru atop the ladder.

They’ll need to figure a way to get by Bedford, a 7-2 loss in their opener but it almost was 3-3 after singles; and of course Hanover, which beat South 8-1. The Marauders toughest match was a 5-4 road win over No. 4 Derryfield.

Santerre has said since that opener vs.Bedford that doubles is where things will be decided.

“That’s what the state championships are going to come down to,” he said recently. “When our doubles teams are out there, we’ve got to put our best foot forward. … We’ve been trying to prepare for the (tournament).”

The fun thing about this tourney is we could get an all local quarterfinal, with South possibly playing No. 6, 11-3 Bishop Guertin. The Cards, who have been led by veterans such as Dean Liakos, will host No. 11 Manchester Memorial (6-8) today. The teams did not meet in the regular season.

Nashua North is the No. 12 seed at 5-9; the Titans started the season off well (3-0), but then faltered, yet won a big match over Concord to get next-to-last spot. North is at No. 5 Dover (11-3) today, and it will be an uphill climb as the Titans lost 8-1 to the Green Wave on the road during the regular season.

THE PICK: Hanover over South.

DIVISION I GIRLS

It was a great accomplishment for Nashua South, led by the likes of Margaret Wagner and Abby Finchum, to make the tourney after an 0-6 start. The No. 10 Panthers won six of their last eight and Wednesday will be at No. 7 Pinkerton(9-5), whom they did not play in the regular season.

No. 11 Nashua North, also 6-8, has a much longer bus ride today by virtue of its Battle of the Bridge loss to South a couple of weeks ago, and visits No. 6 Hanover (10-4). This could be interesting, though, as the Titans lost only 5-4 at home back on April 13.

Bishop Guertin, which had title aspirations a few years ago but is rebuilding, won five of their last eight to get in after a tough 0-4 start. No. 12 BG will (5-9) be at No. 5 11-3 Exeter, who blanked the Cards 9-0 early in the season in Nashua.

Derryfield and Dover are both 14-0 and the top two seeds; traditional powers Bedford finished 12-2 at No. 3.

THE PICK: Derryfield over Bedford.

DIVISION II GIRLS

Hail to the Souhegan Sabers, whose only loss was to Windham, 5-4, a couple of weeks ago. But the defending champion Jaguars aren’t what they were, as they go in as the No. 7 seed at 10-4.

The Sabers in Friday’s quarterfinals get the winner of St. Thomas-Coe-Brown, whom they alread beat 8-1 and 7-2, respectively.

“We’ve had strong and consistent play from my top four (Maddie Daniel, Caroline Drum, Mishka Tower Tylee Jancar) along with consistent doubles play,” Sabers coach Bo Dean said. “However the division is well alanced and Portsmouth (No. 2, 13-1), Oyster River (No.3, 12-2), Alvirne and Windham all have excellent teams who are very capable.

“We hope to continue our good play and have a little luck along the way.”

Souhegan beat Portsmouth 7-2 but to Dean’s point, the Sabers only edged Oyster River and Alvirne 5-4.

The Broncos, in their first year in Division II, won 11 of their first 12 before losses to the Clippers and Sabers to end the season. They’ve been led by the likes of Natalie McSweeney and Avery Baker, and host No. 12 Kennett (5-8) Wednesday, whom the Broncos blanked 9-0 during the season in Hudson. If it wins as expected, Alvirne would be at No. 4 Goffstown (11-3) in Friday’s quarterfinals. The winner would face likely the Sabers in the semis, so perhaps the Broncos could get another shot.

Meanwhile, Hollis Brookline, which lost to Windham in last year’s finals with basically a senior team, had a nice rebuilding season, going 5-3 over the second half to qualify. The Cavs will be at No. 6 Bow (10-4) on Wednesday, and that, too, was a close 5-4 regular season match with the teams splitting singles and the Falcons winning Nos. 2 and 3 doubles. Keira Swart and Anuhya Chilakapati have paced HB. The winner gets No. 3 Oyster River in the quarters on Friday.

THE PICK: Souhegan over Portsmouth.

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