Nashua South's Abhinav Avvau fires a backhand return during Thurdsday's Division I quarterfinal vs. city rival Bishop Guertin at South. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

NASHUA – Bring on the Bulldogs.

That’s the feeling of the Nashua High School South boys tennis team, which is looking forward to its rematch with eight time defending champion Bedford in the Division I semifinals after Thursday’s 6-3 quarterfinal win over local rival Bishop Guertin.

“The kids are looking forward to it,” South coach Dave Santerre said of his No. 3, 13-2 Panthers’ date Monday with the No. 2, 14-1 Bulldogs in Bedford. “They haven’t forgotten.”

They haven’t forgotten that their 7-2 loss to the Bulldogs in the season opener was nearly 3-3 after singles, and Santerre has had his team work hard on doubles ever since after getting swept that day.

At the same time, South won this taking five of six singles, but things were tight in a few matches. Things were wrapped up when No. 2 Abhinav Avvaru downed BG’s Gavin Bombara, 9-7, in an ultra competitive match. South won another tight one at No. 7 with Shreenath Mohan downing BG’s Ronan Bradshaw 9-7. And BG did get a win at No. 4 as Sean Cairns downed Akhil Kammila 9-8, a 10-7 tiebreaker.

Guertin coach Tom Lizotte hinted after his team’s prelim win over Manchester Memorial that it would give South a better match than in the regular season, a non-competitive 8-1 affair, and he was right, even though things were finished after singles.

“I suspected that by the way we had been playing,” Lizotte said after the best season (12-4) the Cards had in his 10-year coaching tenure officially ended. “It could have gone either way in a couple of matches. I’m pleased with how they played, absolutely.”

Guertin did everything this season except beat the three top teams – Hanover, Bedford and South.

“BG did an excellent job, especially in the No. 2 and No. 5 match, of changing the pace on the guys,” Santerre said.

But South still flexed its muscles. No. 1 Santiago Somorrostro downed Dean Liakos 8-0 and No. 3 Atul Phadke bested BG’s Aditya Prasad 8-0. Panther Kaushik Tadipathi beat Cardinal Will Moynihan 8-4.

Doubles were still played despite the outcome decided. Liakos/Bombara won at No. 1 8-6 and Cairns/Moynihan won for the Cards at No. 3, 9-7. South got a win at No. 2 with Avvaru/Phadke winning 8-2.

“There was some frustration, but the close matches, our kids sucked it up and did what they had to,” Santerre said. “I tell you, these kids have been here before.”

But they want to go to a new place this season – the Division I finals, and they’ll need a win over Bedford to do it, a team they haven’t been able to solve.

“That’s why,” Santerre said, “they play the game.”

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