The Alvirne HIgh School girls tennis team shows off its championship plaque after winning the Division II girls title recently in Bedford. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

BEDFORD – Lindsay Gasdia was as honest as she could be.

The Alvirne High School girls tennis team she plays a key role for had just captured the Division II tennis title, but it wasn’t something she nor her Bronco teammates were really thinking about when the season began just over two months ago.

“We had no expectations,” Gasdia said. “It was my senior year, I was just excited to be here.”

And Bronco junior Marissa Murphy, who teamed up with Gasdia for the decisive, championship winning No. 3 doubles rally over Portsmouth tandem Harini Subramanian and Hasya Karthik, admitted “I didn’t think anything of it,” when the season began and the Broncos were facing new competition in Division II. “We had no idea what was going to happen.”

After all, it had been a while, some 24 years, since the Broncos last girls tennis crown. Alvirne coach Jen Ruigrok echoed those sentiments. Alvirne, which in past years always competed in Division I, opting to move up when placed in Division II by the NHIAA.

This time, the girls stayed put, facing a whole new schedule of teams that included three local rivals – Hollis Brookline, Milford and Souhegan, the latter of which they beat in a similiarly tight semifinal match that came down to No. 2 doubles. The Sabers were the tourney’s top seed, losing only once, and edged Alvirne 5-4 in the regular season’s last match.

“Fun girls, they like to play tennis, so that’s what makes it fun for them,” Ruigrok said, noting that down the stretch of the season against tougher competition she had an inkling her No. 5, 14-3 Broncos would be a tough out.

“I think the end of the season when we saw some of the top teams and we were 5-4,” she said. “So it was, ‘We might be able to do this.'”

The march to the title produced some compelling tennis, especially in doubles. If anything, the title showed just how important those three doubles matches can be. In both the semis and finals, the Broncos split singles 3-3, winning Nos. 4 through 6, and taking two out of three doubles.

Again, doubles is where the wins are.

“Exactly,” Ruigrok, the Broncos coach for the last nine years, said. “We practiced doubles all the time. That was my thing in tennis, my specialty.”

In fact, Gasida and Murphy remembered the pressure-packed, semifinals-deciding No. 2 doubles win by fellow Broncos Kenzie Legg and Gabbi Cummins vs. Souhegan in the semis.

“We were joking before, ‘What if that happens (to them)?’ ” Gasdia said. “We never actually thought that it would.”

Guess again. Court No. 3 at the Bedford Town/High School tennis courts actually became centre court, with all eyes on Gasdia and Murphy as they rallied for the deciding win that gave the Broncos a 5-4 Division II state championship win.

The pair was down 5-1 to Subramanian and Karthik, but bounced back to win five of the next six games, including a marathon game 12, to pull even and eventually get the clincher 9-7.

“Honestly, we talk a lot, and we said we just need to be patient and play our game,” Gasdia said. “We beat them before, and they’re great players, and we’re obviously happy with the outcome. But we just needed to be patient and play the way we know how to play.”

“And,” added Murphy, “not let the stress get to us and get into our head.”

Many thought it might come down Legg/Cummins at No. 2 doubles again, but they were done with an 8-2 win and so was the No. 1 team of Avery Baker/Natalie MacSweeney after an 8-2 loss. All knotted at 4.

The only match left? You got it, No. 3 doubles.

“Again, they just stick together, they play off each other, if one’s making mistakes the other one takes over,” Ruigrok said. “It’s a lot of pressure, and they felt it. They actually told me I make them nervous and ‘It’s better off if you’re not here.’ So I walked away, then came back and it was tied up.

“They played good under pressure. I could never do that.”

Ruigrok noted that the one of the reasons for the turnaround was better net play, and her Portsmouth counterpart agreed.

“Kudos first of all for my girls for jumping out to that lead, because they had been beaten by them pretty handily during the regular season,” Portsmouth coach Wendy Poutre said.

“They did mostly what they had to do, but Alvirne kind of stepped it up a bit and became alive at the net a lot.”

Portsmouth’s singles wins were by Sophia Jundi 8-2 over MacSweeney, Elisabeth Drakatos at No. 2, 8-0 over Baker, and Caylie Cook 8-5 at No. 3 over Cummins.

But Legg bested Molly Mikkonen 8-2 at No. 4, about the same time Gasdia was finishing up an 8-2 win over Subramanian and Bronco Emma Coppi doing the same 8-3 over Karthik.

“They’re tough,” Ruigrok said. “My 4, 5 and 6 have been pretty good all season. We haven’t lost much there all season and that’s what’s really kept us in most matches all season.”

After the marathon 12-1/2 game when Portsmouth, serving, squandered four add-ins to try to grab a two-game lead, the Broncos held serve to go up 7-6.

The Clippers did the same to even things at 7. Alvirne held serve, then broke serve again for the title and players began rushing onto the court in celebration.

“It’s awesome,” Ruigrok said. “So exciting I’m starting to cry. They’re such a nice group of girls and they really deserve it.”

So with Alvirne in the postseason, it was fun to expect the unexpected.