Concord High’s tennis team is growing. Fast.

With around 33 total players on the girls’ and boys’ teams, the program is looking to return to the greatness of yesteryear. But both coaches, Greg Malette and Kevin Parsons, understand that the path ahead will be difficult and will take time.

The Concord boys last won a team championship in 2007, when the Crimson Tide secured nine championships in 10 years, and it has not had an individual or doubles champion since 2016. Similarly, the girls have not won a team championship since 2008. Neither squad has finished the season with a winning record since before the pandemic.

Parsons and Malette know the history of the program and are now entering their fourth year as head coaches. During these last few years, they’ve slowly tried to build up the program by starting at the elementary and middle school levels through clinics and camps and now their hard work is coming to fruition.

Boys: The boys have a nice mix with 11 returning players and nine newcomers. Of the group’s returnees, the team has strong senior leadership with juniors Martin Pennington, Weston Koerber and Ben Amini and seniors Carl Sirrianna, Oliver Quinn and Jonah Gaby.

Parsons believes that the added depth this year will not only grow the program but push the returnees to continue to improve and gain experience by playing a variety of different opponents.

Alongside assistant coach Richie Clar, a Concord tennis alumnus, the Tide are working on the fundamentals across the board so that practices and games can move faster and become more competitive. Keeping rallies, serving and working on racket grip have been the focus so far with the young players.

“We’re all trying to get the players to be able to hit the ball well. And that’s the first thing for our new players: Just keeping a rally is the biggest thing, doing the fundamentals, so they can just improve on the speed, how hard they’re hitting and different things like that,” Parsons said.

Coming off a winless 2023 season, the boys finished last year at 5-9 and made the Division I playoffs but fell in the first round, so improving upon that and getting past the opening round of the tournament this year is the Tide’s benchmark for a successful season. Parsons added that he hopes to continue to grow the sport with Malette and recruit kids in Concord High to continue building a tennis culture at the school.

“The big goal is really to have our returning players teach the younger players and the new players to our program, putting them in drills with those kids, having them watch them a little bit, setting them up for success is just main goal,” Parsons said.

Girls: Malette believes that Concord has lots of potential to be stronger in D-I tennis, but the Tide’s not quite there yet. He knows it’s a tough sell and it’s difficult to retain players in recent years because of the competition with other sports and year-round accessibility due to the lack of an indoor tennis space available for players during the offseason.

“My goal is to make it fun enough that they come back, that they get to February and they’re saying to themselves ‘I’m looking forward to what I did last spring. I want to come back and play tennis.’ Even better is when they start to play all winter,” he said.

The team has finished 1-13 in regular-season play the last two years but has now received a huge boost in numbers from the summer clinics that Malette has helped organize for the past three years. Some of the returnees helped with the camps, and three players from the camp who started as sixth graders have now joined ready to play.

The team’s four returning fplayers are seniors Madison Mikkelsen, Malia Moffett and Sarah Saleem and junior Elizabeth LaBombard. The team also brought in nine newcomers to round out the squad, including four freshmen.

Malette is continuously working on growing the sport and is working on setting up pathways for his team to play indoors and during the offseason so that students who participate in other sports can keep up with their tennis competition.

He added that, in many ways, it’s about legitimizing tennis to parents and coaches in other sports so that the students can get involved in it at a younger age and stick with it so that they’re more prepared once they reach high school, as others do in other parts of the state.

After all, he explained, the beauty of the sport is that it’s mostly free and it only takes two people to play, but getting kids on the courts consistently is the biggest challenge.

Malette and his assistant coach, Sarah Pratt, are focused on the fundamentals, much like the boys’ team, and even though they hope to get more victories on the record, they understand that growth is not just measured in the win column.

“A lot of times it’s a little thing: Can you recover? What’s your technique looking like? How long are you lasting? How long is the match going now? How consistently can you keep your serve? So we judge victories in different ways,” Malette added.

The NHIAA tennis season opens on Monday, although the Tide teams start their 2025 campaigns on Wednesday against Dover. The Concord boys will face the Green Wave on the road, while the girls will host Dover at Memorial Field.

BOYS

BOW

Division: II.

Coach: Jay Yvars (fourth year).

Last year: 11-4, reached quarterfinals.

Returning starters: Ben Rondeau, sr.; Milo Cocola, so.; Jacob Gancarz, so.

Top newcomers: Carter Hall, so.

Outlook: Bow returns a solid top three, led by Rondeau, who is entering his second year as captain and the No. 1 player. Hall will make an immediate impact, taking the No. 4 spot behind Cocola and Gancarz. Returning sophomores Matt Mampuzha and Jack French will be moving up the ladder into bigger roles this season.

“The team will be young, but look to be a competitive team this year,” Yvars said. “Time will always tell but we look forward to a great season.”

COE-BROWN

Division: II.

Coach: Mark Struthers (fourth year).

Last year: 5-10, reached prelims.

Returning starters: Ciaran Kenyon, sr.; Chase LaChapelle, sr.

Top newcomers: Brady Glusko, so.; Caden Melanson, fr.

Outlook: With a small roster of just nine players, the Bears will all have to step up into new roles. Kenyon and LaChapelle move into the top two spots and will be tasked with taking on the top players in a competitive division. Glusko moves up into a starting role this year, while Melanson has shown some strong skills as a freshman.

Teams to beat: Oyster River, Portsmouth, Bow.

BISHOP BRADY

Division: III.

Coach: Marianne Thebodeau (second year).

Last year: 8-7, reached quarterfinals.

Returning starters: Teddy Yap, so.; Ben Matseas, sr.; Alex Pelletier, jr.; James Horangic, jr.

Outlook: The Giants went from fielding a shorthanded team in 2022 and not having a team in 2023 to reaching the playoffs last season. four of last year’s top six are back from the group that helped revitalize the boys’ program.

KEARSARGE

Division: III.

Coach: Lynn Williams (10th year).

Last year: 15-2, D-III runner-up.

Returning starters: Liam Miller, sr.; Graham West, sr.; Billy Reid, jr.

Top newcomers: Max Reid, eighth grade.

Outlook: The Cougars return their top two players – Miller and West – but lost four starters to graduation or transfers. Kearsarge has reached the last four D-III finals, including last year’s 6-3 loss to Plymouth, but are a much less experienced group than the Cougars have had in recent years.

“We will, obviously, not have the same depth that we enjoyed last year,” coach Miller said. “I’m hoping to finish at least .500 for the season and qualify for the (D-III) tournament.”

GIRLS

BOW

Division: II.

Coach: Steve Langevin (fourth year).

Last year: 8-8, reached quarterfinals.

Returning starters: Katie McCabe, sr.; Maddy Desrosiers, sr.; Makaylie Laws, sr. ; Lilly Gula, sr.; Alivia LaRose, so.

Top newcomers: Alexis Pelletier, fr; Grace DeCosta, fr., Sierra Scull, so.; Addie Rader, so.

Outlook: The Falcons return four of last year’s top six, who are all very experienced at the varsity level and will be playing up two positions from last year. McCabe, Desrosiers, Laws and Gula “will be looked at to lead the team on and off the court,” according to coach Langevin, while LaRose has some varsity experience and will provide depth.

“We had a tremendous turnout this spring with 17 new players, including 13 freshmen,” Langevin said. “The girls are enjoying it and showing lots of improvement already, so we are excited for the season to begin.”

Teams to beat: Souhegan, Portsmouth, Hollis-Brookline.

COE-BROWN

Division: II.

Coach: Chris Burns (fifth year).

Last year: 6-9, reached prelims.

Returning starters: Stella Vachon, sr.; Anna Hocevar, sr.; Kelli Daniel, jr.; Mackenzie Phillips, so.; Claire Tweed, so.; Scarlett Martyniak, so.

Top newcomers: Cali Herrick, fr.; Jordan McInturf, so.; Mary Bergeron, jr.; Maggie Escabi, sr.; Jenny Noni, sr.

Outlook: The Bears won last year’s Division II team sportsmanship award and are looking for a greater variety of victories this season.

“Our girls are hard-working and determined to play at a higher level. We have several returners coming back who have improved from last season, and we are excited to see how some of the newcomers will add to our program as a whole,” Burns said. “We want to maintain the same level of sportsmanship from last season, but we will also be looking to compete and win matches.”

Teams to beat: Oyster River, Portsmouth, Winnacunnet, Souhegan.

PEMBROKE

Division: II.

Coach: David Goulet (10th year).

Last year: 2-12, did not make tournament.

Returning starters: Emma Settles, jr.; Kalie Reynolds, sr.; Lily Russell, sr.; Jillian French, so.; Riley Caron, so.

Top newcomers: Ariyanna Ainwworth, fr.; Ella Callahan, fr.; Haidyn Chaffee, fr.; Elsa Levison, fr.; Caitlyn Case, fr.

Outlook: “I am impressed with the energy of all the girls,” Goulet said. “They have worked hard at the beginning of the season. We plan on being competitive with the teams in Division II.”

BISHOP BRADY

Division: III.

Coach: Marianne Thebodeau (second year).

Last year: 11-5, reached quarterfinals.

Returning starters: Anya Koshy, sr.; Avery Sahr, sr.

Outlook: The Giants return just two of last year’s top six and will have less varsity experience as they look to make a return trip to the postseason.

KEARSARGE

Division: III.

Coach: Bubba Williams (second year).

Last year: 3-11, did not make tournament.

Returning starters: Shilor Poliquin, so.; Kira Gauntt, sr.; Felicity Kane, jr.; Addie Blair, so.; Luna Landers, sr.; Claire MacCreighton, sr.

Top newcomers: Tucker Dragon, fr.; Anela Branco, sr.

Outlook: The Cougars graduated their No. 1 player from last season – Tori Montagna – but otherwise return their full varsity lineup.

“We have quite a few returning players who saw a lot of action last year,” Williams said. “The addition of Tucker and Anela (projected to play Nos. 1 and 2) should help us improve significantly as a team. Our goal is to make the playoffs as a team.”

Teams to beat: Trinity, St. Thomas, Bishop Brady, Gilford.