Stonington — Some Old Lyme parents paced, even vigorously, around the tennis courts Tuesday, indicating this was no ordinary match for the winners of 58 straight. Others confessed to “stress eating,” while watching the two-time defending Class S champs play defending state Class M champion Stonington.

“The girls have been excited about this for a long time,” Old Lyme coach Lauren Rahr said. “George is a great coach and Stonington is always a great program. Our girls were saying earlier ‘today is here!’ They’ve been talking about this since the season began. The excitement of great competition. It didn’t disappoint.”

Indeed not.

The Wildcats emerged with a 4-3 win, their 59th straight. Old Lyme held a 3-2 lead late in the day when the sizable crowd once spread across six courts converged in one spot to watch Katherine Zhang of Old Lyme win No. 4 singles, 6-4, 6-3, to clinch the win and allow a group exhale.

“We try to block out the record piece of it,” Rahr said. “It was another day to get better. There was an article in The Day last week about the baseball game (Waterford vs. No. 1 Staples) and how playing great competition only makes you better. I shared that with the girls.”

Elaina Morosky won No. 2 singles (6-2, 6-0) for Old Lyme (16-0), while Alexis Fenton-Livie Bass won No. 1 doubles (6-3, 6-1), followed by Aggie Hunt-Beatrice Hunt in No. 2 doubles (6-1, 6-2).

Grace Duggan (6-0, 6-1) and Maddie Gonzalez (6-0, 6-3) won first and third singles respectively for the Bears (8-1), as did the No. 3 doubles team of Gwen McGugan-Angelina Williams (6-2, 6-3).

“Their lower end of the order was superior to ours,” Stonington coach George Crouse said. “But overall, I’m happy because now we know the things we need to work on. We’ve got a week and a half (until the postseason). Old Lyme is very well-schooled, well-coached and trained very well.”

And now the Wildcats (the Bears, too) have reassured themselves of the ability to play quality tennis against good competition.

“At the end of the day, though, we want the girls to enjoy the experience,” Rahr said. “I know for me, I’m the most interested in the girls getting something out of this. I hope they can say what I do, that tennis is the best part of every day.”

m.dimauro@theday.com