Old Lyme — When Lauren Rahr played tennis collegiately at Endicott, her coach used to tell his team that when people think of the sport, they tend to only consider singles.

"Doubles girls have so much to say," Rahr said. "We try to teach them to be aggressive at the net, to take advantage of their opportunities."

Old Lyme High School's girls' tennis team, coached by Rahr, in her second season, took care of its doubles opportunities late Wednesday afternoon into the early evening, as the Wildcats swept the doubles matches to top fellow unbeaten Stonington 4-3 in a nonconference match between state title contenders.

The third doubles team of Fiona Hufford and Izzy Reynolds defeated Stonington's Angelina Williams and Analise McGee 7-6 (1), 6-4 for the defining point in a match that finished several minutes past sunset.

The Wildcats also got wins from Livie Bass and Alexis Fenton at No. 1 doubles, Aggie Hunt and Beatrice Hunt at No. 2 doubles and from Elaina Morosky at No. 4 singles. Old Lyme is the defending Class S state tournament champion, finishing 20-0 in 2021 and adding a 14-0 mark so far this season.

Stonington, predicted to be a contender in the Class M state tournament, entered the match against Old Lyme at 11-0.

Stonington, which swept a doubleheader Tuesday against Woodstock Academy, was playing without usual No. 1 doubles player Katie Johnstone and without another doubles component in Emily Fulling, both of whom were ill. But Stonington coach George Crouse said he didn't want to use that as an excuse, despite the unconventional doubles lineup.

"Their doubles played very well," Crouse said of Old Lyme. "Their system is good. They're keeping balls in play, they're playing as a team. We're not. We're not winning many balls at the net. We've got to reassess our doubles."

Crouse added with a smile: "But it looks like my top three singles are really good."

Maddie Hamm beat Old Lyme's Abby Sicuranza at No. 1 singles, followed by wins from Grace Duggan at No. 2 and Maddie Gonzalez at No. 3.

The No. 1 doubles match featured key pieces of both last year's Shoreline Conference champion doubles team (Fenton teamed with Lauren Wallace to win that title) and the Eastern Connecticut Conference championship-winning team (Katia Snegovskikh played Wednesday minus Johnstone).

Bass and Fenton, both left-handers, won 7-5, 6-3, seemingly always finding just the right angle or hitting the ball to where Stonington was not. Fenton served out the match in a game which went to deuce seven times.

"It was really good competition. We had lots of really good points and it was a good match for both sides," Bass said. "I was a little nervous but I was really ready to play some really good teams. It's really good to get that type of competition to get ready for states."

"It was tiring (playing a doubleheader Tuesday) but luckily we played eight-game pro sets," Stonington's Hamm said. "Luckily, I only had to win 16 instead of 24 games ... but coming out here with the same energy as always. We're always looking forward to playing tough competition. We like to get psyched up for it. Our biggest goal this year is to win states, so going into states we just want to do our best."

v.fulkerson@theday.com