Bedford rolls to quarterfinal win over Souhegan

BEDFORD – The Souhegan High School boys tennis team knew that if it had any shot at upsetting Bedford on Tuesday, it was going to have bring its best.

The Sabers may not have done so, but they weren’t far off, and the Bulldogs certainly broke a sweat in winning 9-0 in the Class I quarterfinal match at the County Road Courts in Bedford.

The win sends the second-seeded Bulldogs (15-0) to the semifinals for the second-straight year. As season ago, as the No. 1, Bedford lost to Hanover in the semifinals. This year, the Bulldogs will face No. 3 Oyster River, which knocked off No. 6 Hollis/Brookline 8-1 in the quarterfinals.

Seventh-seeded Souhegan (8-7) had played Bedford twice before during the regular season, and the Sabers gave the Bulldogs their closest match of the year in a 7-2 defeat in which Souhegan won two doubles matches.

“We knew coming in that we would have to play at 100 percent and get a few breaks,” Souhegan’s Sam Protzmann said.

But while the Sabers were bringing their best, so were the Bulldogs.

“I’ve known all season they’ve had a strong team all season,” Bedford’s Myles Utell said. “Even though technically they are the seventh seed, they’re still one of the strongest teams. When we faced them earlier in the season, we all brought our A-game and we still had close matches. Playing them is just like playing any other high-quality team. You’ve got to bring your A-game or they’re going to beat you.”

Utell won the No. 2 singles match over Souhegan’s Nishon Radhakrishnan by a count of 8-0, but the score was somewhat deceiving.

“The score with Nishon was really a lot closer,” Utell said. “I had to make him work, and with the heat, I had to make him work more. Every game almost went to deuce. Every game was a battle. (The score) was just that I pulled out one extra point per game.”

Mark HoSang had to battle to win the No. 1 match as well, beating Protzmann 8-5.

“I thought (Protzmann) was dangerous because he has a big serve and a big forehand,” HoSang said. “He played really well and he left it all out on the court. It was a close match.”

After the two traded games for a while, HoSang won two in a row to take control of the match and eventually won. For Protzmann, that was a victory in itself.

“First time it was 8-0 (against HoSang) and second time it was 8-1, so for me to put up 8-5 today … I went into the match with nothing to lose,” Protzmann said. “I knew his game a little better and I just attacked. I still feel I could have played a little closer, but in the end, it just gave me so much confidence going forward.”

Radhakrishnan and Protzmann carried that confidence over into the doubles, as they took on HoSang and Utell in the No. 1 match. The duo from Souhegan had a chance to tie the match 7-7, but couldn’t pull through, as HoSang and Utell won, 8-6.

Jim Delahunty won the No. 3 match for Bedford, beating Nick Poulack, 8-0, and Andrew Weeks defeated Nate Reddington at No. 4, 8-1.

Bedford’s Taylor Summerville knocked off Liam Murphy in the No. 5 match, 8-1, and McKinley Grimes pulled out the No. 6 match, beating Matt Protzmann, 8-6.

The Bulldogs took the other two doubles matches as well. Delahunty and Summerville defeated Poulack and Reddington at No. 2, 8-1, while Weeks and Grimes beat Murphy and Matt Protzmann, 8-1.

Next up for Bedford is Oyster River (14-1) in the semifinals at 4 p.m. on Thursday in Bedford. The winner advances to the Class I final on June 4 at Memorial Field in Concord.

For Souhegan, the top players will more than likely continue their season in the state’s singles and doubles tournaments. After Tuesday’s match, they’ll have a little confidence going forward.

“It was, just for our team to be able to compete with this team gives us a lot of hope moving forward,” Protzmann said. “It’s the end of our season, but we’ve got a lot of kids returning next season, so hopefully we can build on that.”