Souhegan's Ori Dart, left, and Callie Perrin celebrate their No. 1 doubles win and the Sabers' 9-0 triumph over Winnacunnet in the Division II semis Tuesday in Amherst. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

AMHERST – Bo Dean was adamant a few months ago, declaring that his Souhegan High School girls tennis team would return to the Division II finals.

That prediction came true on Tuesday, as the Sabers, who tore through the division all spring, blanked No.4 Winnacunnet of Hampton 9-0. That puts the Sabers, who lost to Oyster River last year in the title match, on a collision course with the only team that gave them trouble in the regular season, No. 2 Portsmouth (15-1). They met in the opener and the Clippers fell 5-4 but haven’t lost since. The finals are set for 3 p.m. Thursday at Alvirne High School’s courts in Hudson.

“We had a lot of good returning players, and the girls stayed committed all year to getting better, and not being overconfident, so that’s been good,” Dean said. “We’ve had a good year. A complete team effort, everyone’s worked hard, and we wanted to get back to where we want to be after last year’s loss. It’s important to us.”

“We have more motivation to redeem ourselves, and we’ve learned from our mistakes,” Sabers No. 1 singles player and two-time Telegraph All-Area Player of the Year Callie Perrin said. “We’ve learned from our mistakes, we know what we did wrong last year. We’re going to fix it and hopefully win this year.”

“They have a lot of kids with experience back, they were in the finals last year and they gained that experience also,” Winnacunnet coach Paul Whitmore said, his team done at 11-5. “I think they gained from that and they have goals of winning it this year and they’re going to be really tough.”

It was a tricky path once the postseason started. The Sabers’ quarterfinal with Bow was rained out on Friday after a quick storm passed through, and Dean manage to patch things together for a 9-0 Sunday makeup.

Yesterday, he was happy with how the lower end of the ladder played, and that is perhaps a difference from a year ago.

“My Nos. 5 and 6 played really well today,” he said. “Sophia Yates and Emma Perrin played really well today, and we didn’t have to worry about the bottom lineup. … Our depth is better this year.”

Yates at No. 5 beat Camryn Morissey 8-4 and Emma Perrin, younger sister of the team’s junior No. 1 Callie Perrin, won 8-0. The only other match in which the Warriors won more than two games was at No. 3 with Ori Dart besting Amelia Shannon 8-2.

Callie Perrin beat Warriors No. 1 Amelia Dumont 8-0 and No. 2 Tess Jancar did the same to Emerson Babyail. Caroline Drum at No. 4 topped Warrior Camryn Andrews 8-0.

It was over. Doubles was a mere formality, with Callie Perrin/Dart topping Dumont/Andrews and Jancar/Drum beating Babyail/Shannon both 8-2; Yates/Emma Perrin topped Morissey/Bramhall 8-1.

Souhegan’s Ori Dart keeps her eye on the ball in hitting a return during the Sabers’ 9-0 semifinals win on Tuesday in Amherst. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

And now it’s the Clippers. It was tied going into doubles in the opener.

“They’re strong one through six, there’s no letup in the lineup, and then they come back at you with doubles,” Dean said. “We expect a strong match from them. Very even.”

And it’s been a long time since the Sabers played a tough match. After Portsmouth, they lost only six individual matches the rest of the season. Yikes.

“We’re going to have to work on that,” Dean said of playing in a tight match. “We’ll work on some pressure situations in practice (today) to get them ready for that.”

But for Dean, it’s no secret.

“Good players, playing hard, staying focused,” he said.

For two more days.

HOLLIS BROOKLINE BOYS GO FOR TITLE

The Cavaliers (No. 3, 13-3) are making their first Division II finals appearance since their back-to-back runnerup seasons of 2018-19 when they take on No. 1, 15-0 Goffstown today at 4 p.m. at Dover High School.

They’ve played the Grizzlies twice this season, bowing both times, 5-4 and 6-3. But then again, HB had lost to No. 2 Winnacunnet 6-3 before turning the tables and upsetting the Warriors 5-4 in the semifinals on Monday.