Middletown — Old Lyme’s No. 1 singles player, senior Sam Tan, has a study hall first thing in the morning so she heads to her gym, Snap Fitness, for a workout before school.

“Every morning,” Tan said. “I know I have to keep up my stamina, my strength. I have to be there for my team. I have to be there for the seniors who already graduated.”

Tan and the top-seeded Old Lyme High School girls’ tennis team won their third straight Class S state championship Thursday morning at Wesleyan University, beating No. 4 Westbrook 7-0. It was Old Lyme’s 18th 7-0 victory of the season and its 66th consecutive win overall.

It may sound easy, but the Wildcats’ three consecutive unbeaten seasons can be attributed to tireless work from the players and the coaching staff, led by third-year head coach Lauren Rahr.

“They do have that natural tennis ability but what we’ve really worked hard on is to make them smart tennis players and mentally tough, which is really hard for any athlete to accomplish,” Rahr said.

“During practice, all of our drills are really strategy-based and tactic-based. Like ‘Why would you hit the ball here?’ ‘Why was that the right decision during this point?’ The Litchfield coach (Old Lyme’s semifinal opponent) actually complimented our doubles, saying that they’re so hard to play and you always have to be on because they get to everything and they know what to do with any ball they face.”

Tan defeated Westbrook’s Megan Bache at No. 1, 6-4, 6-3, and the Wildcats (23-0) also got singles wins from Elaina Morosky, Callie Bass and Katherine Zhang.

At No. 1 doubles, Livie Bass and Alexis Fenton, the two-time Shoreline Conference doubles champs, topped Adriana Stranieri and Olivia Palumbo 6-0, 6-1. Aggie Hunt and Beatrice Hunt won at No. 2 doubles and Izzy Reynolds and Natalie Buckley at No. 3.

The Wildcats did not give up a point in the state tournament, with four straight 7-0 triumphs.

Of that venerable starting lineup, Old Lyme will lose Callie and Livie Bass, Fenton, Reynolds and Tan to graduation.

Following the pandemic, in what was Rahr’s first season, the team had no one returning who had ever played a varsity match. Rahr said she was required to take photos of where everyone sat on the bus for the purpose of COVID-19 contact tracing. She recently dug out some of those pictures and showed her team.

“They all look so timid and shy,” Rahr said. “We went back through all of those. They all look so nervous to play their matches. Then you watch them on the courts today and they step out there with this confidence. They’ve grown so much.

“It’s a special team. I think a lot of it has to do with their hard work and how much they respect each other and respect me. ... I’m still as nervous as I was the first match day, even though I know how strong they are and how much they deserve it.”

Tan said she was driven by the success of last year’s No. 1 singles player, Abby Sicuranza, who graduated in 2022 — “just seeing her fight for every point last year inspires me,” she said.

Meanwhile, Rahr, who interviewed for her position as a math teacher at Old Lyme not knowing whether she would get the job and not knowing the tennis position would be open, heads into next season with a 66-0 career record, what she calls “insane.”

She thinks the returnees are ready to continue the fight.

“I think they’re all too determined to not let it go that easily,” Rahr said. “... I don’t know what I did in my life to end up in this moment with them but I am so thankful. Old Lyme called me back and I was like, ‘Well, it must be meant to be.’”

“I don’t think I’ll ever forget this season ever,” Tan said. “If I do have kids, I will probably make them do tennis and I’ll tell them all about my season. ... You’d think there’d be a lot of pressure on me but we have such a great team I never feel like, ‘Oh, I have to win.’ It’s really an honor.”

v.fulkerson@theday.com