MANCHESTER – After she coughed up a big lead and was one game away from losing her singles match, Claire Mulvaney needed a pep talk. So she gave herself one.

“Let’s get this done,” Mulvaney told herself. “Get the job done.”

Going to work with a big forehand, Mulvaney rallied to win at No. 2 singles and dominated the third doubles match to earn the clinching point in Bow’s 6-3 win over No. 1 Berlin in Thursday’s Division III girls’ tennis final. After losing their undefeated season in last year’s final, these Falcons got the job done by capping their 18-0 season with a crown.

“It’s so rewarding, especially after last year when we came to the finals and had a hard loss,” Mulvaney said. “This felt really good.”

Seniors Mulvaney and Nandita Kasireddy, Bow’s No. 1 player, were the only two players from last year’s top six that returned this season. They form a nice 1-2 punch at the top of the ladder and they’re both good leaders, but this title was still something of a surprise, even for the Falcons.

“It’s great to come back and win it after being so close last year,” Bow Coach Jonsey Rainville said. “And especially with a group of girls that I really truly believed were rebuilding.”

Not only was the Falcons’ top six loaded with new faces, one of them, Emma Conley, picked up a racked for the first time just last spring.

“Let’s just say that last year I couldn’t hit it over the net,” Conley said, “so I think I’ve improved quite a bit.”

Conley was the first player done with her singles match at The Derryfield School courts on Thursday, quickly claiming an 8-1 win at No. 6. And she served out the match at third doubles, another 8-1 win, which gave No. 2 Bow the clinching point for its fifth girls’ tennis championship in school history and third since 2011.

Although to be fair, it was Mulvaney who actually finished the final point in third doubles, knifing a backhand volley winner. And that felt only fitting since it was Mulvaney who owned the match from beginning to end.

“Yeah she did,” Conley said. “That’s how it usually goes.”

Rainville moved Mulvaney from first doubles to third doubles midway through the season, and the move paid off in the end.

“I think Claire being at third doubles was the key to us winning,” Rainville said. “And it strengthened all three doubles teams. Nandita and Lara (Chern) were a good team together at first doubles, and Gwen (Molind) and Izzy (Urbina) have not lost a match this season, so it just made sense to strengthen our third doubles with Claire. And Claire was a trooper to take that position after having played first or second doubles for the last three years.”

The truth is, Mulvaney didn’t mind making the move.

“My partner Emma is great. It’s a pleasure to play with her and we have a lot of fun together,” Mulvaney said. “We make a good team.”

Conley used her lefty forehand to earn the speedy win at No. 6 and give Bow an early lead. Audrey Coulombe answered with an 8-1 win at No. 1 for Berlin (16-1), which suffered the same fate as the 2016 Falcons by losing its only match of the season in the final.

The Mountaineers also got the next singles point when No. 5 Julie Downs outlasted Chern, 8-3. After that, it was all Falcons.

Urbina claimed an 8-3 win at No. 3 over Emily Theriault to even things at 2-2, and then Mulvaney completed her 9-7 win over Myra Arsenault at No. 2. Mulvaney had jumped out to a 4-1 lead, but Arsenault clawed her way back to take a 7-6 edge. That’s when Mulvaney gave herself the pep talk and reeled off three straight games for the win.

Finally, Molind outlasted Rylie Binette, 8-5, at No. 4, to give Bow a critical 4-2 lead after singles.

“We felt good being up 4-2, we felt confident,” Mulvaney said. “We weren’t overconfident, but we thought we could pull it off.”

After Mulvaney and Conley clinched with their third doubles win, Berlin’s Coulombe and Arsenault claimed an 8-2 win at first doubles. And then Urbina and Molind completed their undefeated doubles campaign with a 9-7 win at second doubles that put the final touches on Bow’s unexpected undefeated season.

“With four of our top six players gone, I was not expecting to win a championship,” Mulvaney said, “but it makes it that much sweeter.”