Bishop Guertin's Nick Xie reaches to hit a return during Tuesday's Divison I prelim round match vs. Merrimack in Nashua. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

NASHUA – Ho-hum? Hardly.

The competition may not have been there for the top local high school boys tennis teams for the opening round of the Division I state tournament, but the experience was.

“You can never have enough matches,” Nashua South coach Sam Kluger said after his No. 7 Panthers team cruised past No. 10 Manchester Memorial, 8-1.

That was the same feeling for Bishop Guertin coach Tom Lizotte, whose No. 5 Cardinals eased past No. 12 Merrimack, 9-0.

“You need all the play time and practice time you can get,” Lizotte said. “Stay sharp and just to stay focused. The hardest part is to keep (his players) motivated so they just don’t go in and take it for granted. I told them they had to stay sharp, because the next round is very important for us.”

That would be the quarterfinals on Thursday, which will send the Cards (12-3) to No. 4 Dover, which had a bye. The two teams did not play during the regular season.

South (11-4), meanwhile, will be making its third trip up to Hanover to face the No. 2 Bears (13-1). Thanks to rain, it took two trips there earlier this month for a 6-3 loss.

In other local results, No. 11 Nashua North saw its season end, falling to No. 6 Exeter, 9-0. In Division II, however, No. 8 Hollis Brookline downed No. 9 Kennett in a play-in match. The Cavs (6-9) now head to face No. 1 Lebanon (13-1) on Thursday in the quarters.

Here are the first round details:

DIVSION I

NO. 5 BISHOP GUERTIN 9, NO. 12 MERRIMACK 0

The Cards followed the lead of No. 1 Nick Xie, who beat Merrimack’s Reese Lopez 8-3. No.2 Gavin Bombara (8-0), No. 3 Will Moynihan (8-6), No. 4 Sean Cairns (8-0), No. 5 Aditya Prasad (8-3) and No. 6 Sean Finnegan (8-0) all followed. Merrimack’s Tyler Barnard fought hard in his close loss at No. 3. But the team match was decided before doubles.

It was a good doubles match at No. 1 as Xie/Bombara edged Lopez/Max Townsend 8-6. Moynihan/Cairns downed Barnard/George Benoit at No. 2 8-1 and the Cards won with reserves at No. 3 8-6.

Now on to Dover.

“On paper, it looks like we should do well,” Lizotte said. “There’s a couple of teams (Keene, Pinkerton) that they beat 5-4 or 6-3 and we had beaten the same teams 9-0 or 8-1.But you know what happens. It’s a different day.”

For the Tomahawks, this was their first tournament appearance, and that was special.

“They all wanted to play, all wanted to improve, it was a really good coaching experience and they never gave up,” Tomahawks coach Don Chisholm said. “It’s tough against BG but we were happy to be here.”

NO. 7 NASHUA SOUTH 8, NO. 10 MANCHESTER MEMORIAL 1

The Panthers finally had much of their regular lineup back and it showed as they swept singles. Abhinav Avvaru (8-4), Atul Phadke (8-1), Ansh Khanna (8-6), Jason Zhu (8-3), Shrey Shah (8-6) and Aadi Kulkarni (8-2) all triumphed.

Avvaru/Aidan Sullivan (8-2) and Phadke/Manu Ampala won at No. 6,8-0.

Memorial’s lone win was at No. 2 doubles, as Tyler Telge/Daniel Betancourt downed Zhu/Khanna 8-5.

And now, Hanover.

“It’s a warmup,” Kluger said. “Last time at Hanover we were missing Ansh Khanna at No. 3, so everyone else had to move up. I think honestly, we could definitely pull it off 5-4. It will be a very close, very good match. I think they can do it.”

Merrimack’s Tyler Barnard focuses on his return during Tuesday’s Divison I quarterfinal at Bishop Guertin. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

NO. 6 EXETER 9, NO. 11 NORTH 0

The Titans won four of their last five to make the tourney but ran into a hot Exeter team (11-4).

North wraps up its season at 6-9 while the Blue Hawks move on to face No. 3 Derryfield on Thursday. It will be No. 1 Bedford (14-0) vs. No. 8 Keene (10-5).

DIVISION II PLAY-IN

NO. 8 HOLLIS BROOKLINE 7, NO. 9 KENNETT 2

HB won it in singles, taking five of six. Winners for the Cavs were Bryson Giersch (8-2), Will Critchfield (8-3), Sam Anthony (8-6), Simar Sidhu (8-4), and Jason Babcock (8-3).

Doubles winners were Anthony/Babcocl (9-8, 7-5 tiebreak) and Sidhu/Arjun 8-5.

It will be a tough go Thursday for the Cavs, who lost to Lebanon 9-0 just two weeks ago. The area’s other Division II team, No. 7 Souhegan, will travel to face No. 2 Bow in their quarterfinal.