A group of disappointed Cavaliers applaud the Goffstown boys tennis team following the Grizzlies' 6-3 win over HB in the Division II finals Wednesday in Dover. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

DOVER – Perhaps there are better days ahead for the Hollis High School boys tennis team.

Not that the last couple of months have been bad. Hardly, as the Cavaliers were blowing through the Division II regular season taking no prisoners until they ran into Goffstown.

The Grizzlies beat them twice in the regular season and unfortunately for HB, the third time Wednesday wasn’t a charm as the No. 3 Cavs fell to the No.1,16-0 Grizzlies 6-3 in the Division II finals at Dover High School.

“Obviously having lost two to Goffstown previously (6-3 and 5-4), it was more of a mental battle than a physical one today,” Cavs coach Celestino Eddie Sepulveda III said. “The ball didn’t bounce our way. We were hoping to flip a couple of matches with some renewed confidence, but it just didn’t happen.

“We had our eyes on the prize all season. We’ll renew, restart next year and give it a good hard 12 weeks.”

The Cavs (13-4) will have seven returning juniors and that should help, and all their players on the ladder will be back.

“We played amazing this year,” HB’s No. 1 singles player, Arjun Inakollu said. “Everyone on the team is just amazing, we all tried so hard. I know we can do better next year. We’re going to win it next year.”

That could happen, but yesterday belonged to the Grizzlies and Inakollu had to tip his cap.

“Goffstown has some really good players,” he said. “But two of their seniors are leaving so we may have a chance there.”

It wasn’t all one sided. Goffstown’s Jake Bates downed HB’s Greyson McSeveney 8-1 at No. 5 and Cole Osborn defeated the Cavs’ Dylan Legrow at No. 6, 8-2.

HB’s Sam Anthony also fell to Goffstown’s Liam O’Brien at No. 4, 8-4. But HB’s Inakollu was dominant in an 8-3 win over Gunner Burnham at No.1 and the Cavs’ John Torpey was the same in an 8-3 win over Goffstown’s Coen Soucy, 8-3 at No. 3.

HB was hoping to come out of singles with a clean 3-3 split, but Ronan Finnegan battled back to close to within 7-6 before falling at No. 2 to Tyler Dionne. That meant HB would have to sweep doubles to win the title, not an easy task.

They did get a win from Inakollu/Anthony 8-2 at No. 1 doubles, but the Goffstown tandems of Dionne/Bates and O’Brien/Osborn recorded solid 8-2 and 8-3 victories, respectively, at No. 2 and 3 doubles. Dionne/Bates took about five minutes to win the last three games of their match with Torpey/McSeveney and that was the winning fifth point for the Grizzlies.

“Goffstown definitely had the edge in all our matches this season,” Sepulveda said. “At home, away, here in the finals. Their determination, the core of their lineup, really held up. It’s not about one or two players, it’s about the entirety of the team.”

“They’re a good team,” Goffstown coach Gary Walsh said of the Cavs. “But we have a deep lineup, that’s why we went undefeated. … There was a lot of pressure because we were undefeated, but our kids played their best tennis at the end of the year.”

To support his claim, No. 4 O’Brien and No. 6 Osborn went 50-0 in their singles and doubles matches this season. Incredible.

“The major difference between Goffstown and a lot of other teams in Division II is that depth of the lineup,” Sepulveda said. “It doesn’t end with the Nos. 1, 2, and 3 guys. The Nos. 4, 5 and 6 know how to play their role and they succeeded today.”

Hollis Brookline’s Arjun Inakollu fires a backhand return during Wednesday’s Division II finals vs. Goffstown at Dover High School. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

Meanwhile, Inakollu did what he could to keep the Cavs in it and looked like arguably the best player on the courts for either side.

“Arjun is having a great season and we look forward to what he’s going to do next year,” Sepulveda III. “He was 10-2 in the regular season, had a couple of losses against Winnacunnet last week and in the semis, but he did really well today in the finals.”

The Cavs lost to Lebanon in the semifinals last year and this year took the next step to the finals.

“I’m extremely proud,” Sepulveda said. “I couldn’t be more fortunate to be the coach of Hollis Brookline tennis. I look forward to growing the program in the next few years.”

And perhaps getting back to the finals with a different result.