East Lyme — It began 24 hours earlier, the biggest matches of their lives at the unusual time of 10 a.m. There was a victory, some rest and then what would become the biggest matches of their lives again, this time in the state quarterfinals.

There was another victory for fourth-seeded East Lyme, which brought a night's rest and then a repeat of circumstances Wednesday morning: The Class M state boys' tennis semifinals for the first time in program history.

"Was I nervous?" East Lyme coach Susan Welshock said, repeating a question she was asked. "Absolutely. My heart was racing."

And after three matches in 24 hours, the Vikings were celebrating, off to the finals Thursday in the Tennis Center in Newington at noon. East Lyme dispatched No. 17 Notre Dame of West Haven, 5-2, to earn a crack at No. 2 Avon, a 4-0 semifinal winner over No. 3 Weston.

Daniel Sapoznikov (No. 2 singles), David Li (No. 3 singles) were straight-set winners and the Vikings swept all three doubles matches with wins from the teams of Rohan Purohit-Guillem Colom (No. 1), Ayush Misha-Jiarui Peng (No. 2) and Benjamin Tan-Rohan Veerappa Boopathy (No. 3).

"This is the first year they are doing this kind of team format and it's a whole different mentality," Welshock said. "You need depth and camaraderie. You have individual battles, but it's also a team challenge. But it's been that way with team challenges all year with COVID and contact tracing."

East Lyme's players, while focused on their individual matches, took ample opportunity to root on teammates during pauses in their own play.

"This was about standout coaching and great playing," Purohit said. "To get to the state finals is kind of surreal."

Purohit said his body wasn't all that tired, even after three matches in 24 hours. Ah, the advantages of youth.

"Last night, we were all exhausted after a full day," Welshock said. "It was literally one point at a time. It started in the morning. Then at 3 o'clock. I wondered if we'd still have the legs and excitement. After that, we knew in the semis, we'd have an even tougher team to play. But together, we did it."

The bus leaves mid-morning Thursday for what could be the ultimate accomplishment in program lore and legend.

"We have nothing to lose," Purohit said. "We just need to go play our best. I think we can do it."

m.dimauro@theday.com