LEBANON — Spectators drifted towards the Carter Community Building Association’s back tennis court Monday afternoon, drawn by the compelling No. 3 singles match between Lebanon High’s Kyle Hines and Portsmouth’s Raphael Hey Tenne. The pair were locked in a battle that would tilt an NHIAA Division II semifinal in one of their team’s favor.

Hey Tenne preferred to play with pace; Hines responding with lobs and targeted backspin. The pair battled back and forth, at one point engaging in a 34-shot rally. The ball often ticked the net, drawing gasps and groans from the audience, which swelled to about 20 observers on Memorial Day afternoon.

When Hines finally prevailed, 9-8, with a 10-8 tiebreaker, he and Hey Tenne had competed for more than 100 minutes.

“I don’t think I’ve ever played a tennis match that long,” said Hines, a sophomore whose top-seeded team eventually beat the No. 4 Clippers, 6-3, and faces No. 2 Bow (14-2) on Wednesday afternoon at Hudson’s Alvirne High in its second consecutive final.

“We kept getting the ball back at each other and had to just wait until someone missed. Playing consistent is the best way to win.”

Said third-year Lebanon coach Tammy Arado: “That was one for the record books. I was really impressed with how Kyle maintained his level of play and his patience. He put into action some of the things we discussed during changeovers.”

Lebanon junior Nolan Arado, the Raiders’ No. 1, dispatched Aidan Shipman, 8-0. Junior and No. 2 man Will Katz, wearing his trademark banzai headband, prevailed over Henry Anderson, 8-1.

The Raiders (15-1) slumped in the back half of the singles lineup, however, with Finn Ericson, Bayden Schifferdecker and Lucas Graham losing by a combined 24-13.

Arado and Katz won the No. 1 doubles match, 8-0, and when Hines and Schifferdecker triumphed, 8-1, at No. 2 doubles on the latter’s crisp forehand down the line, the Raiders booked their finals berth. They defeated Bow, 8-1, during the teams’ matchup earlier this season.

Lebanon lost last year’s championship to Oyster River, 6-3, winning the top two singles matches and the No. 1 doubles contest but losing farther down the ladder. Hines said Sunday he believes his team’s depth is better, but fourth, fifth and sixth singles players Ericson, Schifferdecker and Graham will likely have to prove it for the Raiders to win their 12th consecutive match.

“This season, I think we’ve improved a lot more than last season,” said Hines, pointing to the Raiders’ 5-4 loss to Oyster River on April 21 as a step forward during the last year. “No one can return Nolan’s serve, and he and his family are the reason Lebanon tennis has been so strong the last few years.”

Tammy Arado, Nolan’s mother and the director of tennis at the River Valley Club, said her son works on specific aspects of his game when match scores become lopsided. She said it’s undecided whether the tall junior will pursue college play.

“I can see him hitting drop shots or pressing the net or hitting overheads,” she said. “He’s working on something every time he’s out there, regardless of who he’s playing.”

Wednesday, the Arados and the Raiders will play for the program’s fourth state title. The Raiders previously triumphed in 2016, 2017 and 2021 and were runners-up in 2015 and 2022.

Notes: Nine matches were scheduled but Portsmouth, by mutual agreement of the teams’ coaches, forfeited the third doubles match because the overall contest’s outcome had already been decided. … Schifferdecker played with numerous fake tattoos on his lower legs, the remnants of his attendance at a recent Taylor Swift concert. … Lebanon girls tennis and boys soccer coach Rob Johnstone attended the match with his son, Owen, a former Raiders athlete and recent Ithaca (N.Y.) College graduate. The pair recalled a past match at the CCBA in which a defeated opponent angrily hurled his racket into the nearly Mascoma River. … Tammy Arado said Graham is in only his second season of competitive tennis but has improved with the help of private lessons. … Mason Arado, the coach’s older son and a 2022 Lebanon graduate, is working to become a licensed electrician. He was the NHIAA singles champion last spring and won its doubles title with his brother. … The CCBA courts are becoming a bit dilapidated, with smudged and sloppy paint repair attempts making the players’ line calls difficult at times. The loss of one court several years ago to build small artificial-turf soccer fields means high school matches can now last longer than three hours. … Hanover’s Ted Hoehn won the first two NHIAA singles titles in 1957 and 1958. He was also part of doubles crowns during those seasons.

Tris Wykes can be reached at twykes@vnews.com.