Alvirne's Kenzie Legg, right, celebrates the Broncos' 5-4 semfinal win over Souhegan with her doubles partner, Gabby Cummins, after the pair won at No. 2 in a tiebreaker for the match clinching point on Tuesday in Amherst. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

AMHERST – It had that U.S. Open feel.

Every point brought cheers or groans. Every point brought pressure.

Some turned away or hid their eyes. In fact, Alvirne High School’s Gabby Cummins at one point told her teammates to keep it down.

But in the end, the pressure was more fun for the Broncos girls tennis team than their Souhegan counterparts as they pulled out a thrilling 5-4 Division II semifinal win Tuesday at the spacious Camp Young Judea courts.

“You’re heart’s beating through your chest,” said a smiling Cummins, who, along with Kenzie Legg teamed up for the match clinching 9-8 (7-5 tiebreaker) win at No. 2 doubles over the Souhegan tandem of Tylee Jancar and Caroline Drum. “You could hear the crowd breathing.”

As a result, the No. 5, 14-3 Broncos take a deep breath and move on to the program’s first championship match since Alvirne won what was then the Class L title back in 1998. They’re in Division II now, and will take on No. 2 Portsmouth (15-1) Thursday for the title in Bedford.

The No. 2 doubles teams were the last players on the courts, with everything already deadlocked 4-4, as the teams had split singles and two doubles matches. The atmosphere was as tense as could be, as Jancar and Drum fought back from 7-5 down to send things into the tiebreaker. The Saber tandem was up 5-4 but the Bronco duo took the next three points, the go-ahead being a Cummins service ace and then clincher a perfectly placed net shot by Legg. They’re 13-2 on the year as a tandem.

“They’re a great doubles team because they play off each other,” Alvirne coach Jen Ruigrok said. “When one gets down, the other one takes over, that’s the way it’s been all year. … They want to win this. It was a great match.”

Unfortunately for the Sabers, that was their only solace. They came in as Division II’s top seed at 14-1, and had beaten Alvirne 5-4 just 10 days earlier in the final match of the regular season. But in that one, Souhegan took four of six singles and needed just one doubles win.

Yesterday, though, Legg cancelled those plans with a hard-fought 8-6 win over Jancar at No. 4 singles.

“That was crucial,” Ruigrok said. “She never gives up, never. She’s so strong and she can run down anything.”

“Unfortunately we couldn’t get that fifth win in singles, so it pushes into doubles,” Souhegan coach Bo Dean said. “Puts a lot of pressure on doubles. And that’s what happened, it got down to the last couple of points and nerves begin to play a part in it.”

Dean actually changed up his lineup, pairing Tess Jancar and Keelin Lewellyn at No. 3 doubles in the hopes of getting a spark. The Sabers could count on their fourth point coming from their undefeated No. 1 doubles team of Mishka Tower/Maddie Daniel – who did win 8-1 over Alvirne’s Natalie MacSweeney/Avery Baker.

But Tess Jancar/Lewellyn fell to Alvirne’s Lindsay Gasdia/Marissa Murphy at No. 3, 8-3, winning the last six games, so it came down to that No. 2 doubles match for all the marbles.

“We did change up our doubles,and it didn’t end up working out for us,” Dean said. “No. 2 doubles lost last time, played much better today but couldn’t get over the hump.”

Souhegan won the upper half of the singles ladder, with No. 1 Daniel (8-0), No. 2 Drum (8-1) and No.3 Tower (8-3) triumphing. But the Broncos answered as before Legg’s clutch win at No. 4 came 8-0 victories by both Gasdia at No. 5 and Emma Coppi at No. 6. Even steven after singles.

In their doubles wins, the Broncos seemed more aggressive at the net, and that helped.

“Their net play throughout, especially in doubles 2 and doubles 3 was pretty good,” Dean said.

Souhegan’s Tylee Jancar reaches to make a return during Tuesday’s Divison II semifinals match with Alvirne in Amherst. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

The Clippers are in the finals after edging Oyster River, 5-4 in their semi. Alvirne lost to Portsmouth 5-4 back on May 20. It’s been quite a journey for the Broncos, who have always played in Division I in years past but according to athletic director Karen Bonney were placed by enrollment in Division II along with the boys team. The boys moved up to Division I, but the girls opted to stay put this season.

“It was good to play in Division II, we saw a lot of teams we never played, and they’re some really good teams,” Ruigrok said. “I think we did all right.”

So did the Sabers, who weren’t really mentioned preseason with the elite but were just that.

“Can’t take anything away from the girls, though,” Dean said. “Great season. Alvirne played a great match today. Who can complain? We ended up 14-2, take what we had, pull our chin up and go on to next year.”

What’s it going to be like in the finals? What do you think?

“Lots of pressure,” Cummins said. “But as long as we have fun, that’s what it’s all about.”