Guilford — Phoebe Townsend and Brielle Fratoni-Jaskiewicz started their No. 2 doubles match against Guilford at around 4:30 Thursday afternoon and finished at 7:03 p.m.

The tandem of Stonington High School seniors was up, then down, then up again before eventually falling to Guilford's Elaina Griffiths and Allie Stankewich 4-6, 6-2, 7-5. Townsend had her painful right arm wrapped.

Guilford's senior day festivities were on hold until the remaining matches — Townsend and Fratoni-Jaskiewicz weren't even the only ones playing — were completed in the waning sunlight.

It went down as a 4-3 Guilford victory, the first regular-season loss for Stonington since May 15, 2014, against Waterford, a span of 60 straight victories.

“It's a win in my book,” Fratoni-Jaskiewicz said of the hard fought loss. “It can be a little disappointing … but any time your team's behind you and cheering for you ...”

“We all played really well,” Stonington junior and No. 1 singles player Gabby Dellacono said. “I don't really care about the outcome. It prepares us for people later on.”

Guilford, last year's Class M state tournament runner-up, will compete in the Class L tournament this season. Stonington is a Class S program, the state's smallest classification, falling 4-3 last year in the semifinals to eventual champion Weston.

Stonington handed Guilford a 4-3 loss last Wednesday in Stonington, keeping its hopes of a fourth straight unbeaten regular season intact.

This time, the teams played at Guilford in the celebratory atmosphere of the Indians' senior day. Instead of the matches taking place with a sanctity usually reserved for church, there were cheers on every point.

Guilford's Nos. 1 and 2 doubles teams pulled off three-set victories to clinch the match.

Stonington (13-1) got wins from Dellacono at No. 1 singles, beating Faren Roth 6-0, 6-0; Hannah Middleton at No. 4 singles, who defeated Acadia Hall 2-6, 6-3, 7-5 in the final match, completed at 7:15 p.m.; and the No. 3 doubles team of Holly Foster and Cassie Onorato, topping Guilford's Emma Rand and Morgan Mancuso in straight sets, 6-1, 6-2.

“No question,” Stonington coach George Crouse said of the value of the matchup with powerful Guilford as preparation for the Bears' own upcoming postseason. “Win or lose, I don't care, as long as they learn to compete. Near the end of the season, it's really good. Kids learn to work for success, but if they don't have success, at least they learn to compete.”

“You can never give up; even if you're down, you can come back,” Townsend said of what she took away from Thursday's match. “We do a good job fighting. We don't give up. I'm very proud. Everyone did great and held their own today.”

Dellacono, the two-time Eastern Connecticut Conference champion and last year's State Open runner-up who recently committed to Division I Brown University as a junior, described herself as exhausted — "It's been a long day," she said. She credited Roth with a great deal of hustle and for making the powerful Dellacono have to use a variety of shots to get one past her.

Frustration appeared to set in for Dellacono on a couple of trips to the net when missing a drop, but she followed in the second set with one at the perfect angle, with the perfect spin, leading to a 3-0 advantage.

“Not really frustrated. It felt good as I was hitting it,” Dellacono said. “I was trying to come up and volley and my volleys weren't really working today. Some things didn't work with my net play.”

“… The team is doing awesome right now. We're really competing against everybody.”

v.fulkerson@theday.com