BOW – Nandita Kasireddy tries to keep her memory short on the tennis court, but when the Bow High senior fell behind 3-0 in her No. 1 singles match with Sanborn’s April Miller on Wednesday, the memories poured in.

Kasireddy remembered her last match with Miller, a lopsided defeat on May 11. Was this match on its way to a similar result?

Bow Coach Jonsey Rainville kept her advice short and simple: forget about it and hit the ball hard.

“Jonsey started telling me to hit it harder and that the outcome really didn’t matter,” Kasireddy said. “I definitely was thinking about the outcome, but I just took it point by point and slowly worked up from there.”

Kasireddy turned a 3-0 deficit into an 8-6 win to clinch the match for the second-seeded Falcons over No. 7 Sanborn, 8-1, in the Division III quarterfinals. Bow will host No. 3 Pelham on Friday in the semifinals.

The Falcons (15-0) won five of six singles matches to seal the win over the Indians (8-7). Kasireddy’s match with Miller was the last one to finish and held the attention of both teams surrounding the court. Kasireddy turned the match around with four wins in a row to lead 6-5. She split the next two sets with Miller and won the third to close it out.

Rainville has seen Kasireddy battle back from a deficit before but had no doubts this was the most significant of the senior’s high school tennis career.

“Today was definitely her big one,” Rainville said. “Nandita made her move and she hit the ball harder than last time. That was definitely the big difference. (Miller) is a human backboard and Nandita just really hit the ball hard.”

The match shifted as Kasireddy’s approach took an aggressive turn. She came off her heels and turned each return into a speedy, top-spinning dart narrowly over the net on a tight angle. Miller, in control through the first few sets, was now on the defensive side.

“She was playing to safely to begin with and then when she became more agressive, that’s when things turned for her,” Rainville said.

Kasireddy seized the chance to pull ahead and didn’t stop.

“Before, I focused on lightly getting it back,” Kasireddy said. “This time I tried to get more spin on it, I tried hit harder into the corners and make her move around.”

The first four singles matches to end were in favor of Bow. A win by Kasireddy or Claire Mulvaney at No. 2 had the power to advance Bow to semifinals.

Mulvaney played an even tighter match than Kasireddy, but lost in a tiebreaker, 8-6. After taking a 2-1 lead, Mulvaney fell behind 4-3 but fought back to an 8-8 tie, forcing a tiebreaker.

“I’m especially proud of Nandita and Claire for sticking out those tough matches,” Rainville said.

Izzy Urbina won her No. 3 singles match, 8-0, along with Gwen Molind (8-1 at No. 4), Lara Chern (8-1 at No. 5) and Emma Conley (8-2 at No. 6). Kasireddy and Chern teamed up for an 8-2 win at No. 1 doubles. Molind and Urbina won, 8-0, at No. 2. Mulvaney and Conley won, 8-5, at No. 3.

Urbina, Molind, Chern and Conley are all new to the top six this season, giving Rainville reason to be optimistic about the team’s future.

“They’ve all risen to the occasion much more so than I ever anticipated,” Rainville said. “I thought we were in a rebuilding era and we’re 15-0. So everything from here is gravy.”

Kasireddy agreed the team has played beyond her expectations entering the season. Now, she thinks the team has the skill and mentality to go the distance.

“I think we can make it all the way,” she said. “We’ll take it match by match. I have a lot more faith in myself and everyone else on this team.”