The Bishop Brady girls' tennis team got one dramatic victory in the singles portion of yesterday's Class I finals against St. Thomas.

Unfortunately for the Green Giants, they needed two.

When Brady Coach Marcia Moran envisioned how her fourth-seeded team would add another upset to this year's tournament run, she saw the script this way: to start with, a 3-3 tie with the third-seeded Saints after singles play. Anything worse, she figured, would be a major roadblock. And when the Saints (15-2) built a 4-2 lead after singles and then clinched the match with a quick doubles victory, Moran's assessment proved true, leaving the Green Giants (14-3) on the short end of a 5-4 title match between a pair of underdog teams at windy Memorial Field in Concord.

"If we could have gotten one more singles victory ..." lamented Moran, whose team came into the finals on the heels of a 5-4 semifinal upset victory over No. 1 Hanover. "Traditionally we're pretty tough in doubles. But having to win three out of three, those are pretty tough odds."

St. Thomas's No. 1 doubles team of Bacall Brooks and Kimberly Greenwood made sure the Giants didn't buck the odds, steamrolling to an 8-1 victory over the Giants' Rosemary Moran and Kelly O'Keefe that quickly removed any potential drama from the doubles matches.

For the most part, the singles matches were also one-sided and decided quickly.

The Saints, who upset No. 2 Portsmouth in the semifinals, jumped ahead 2-0 when sophomore Karina Menard beat freshman Meg Bryke, 8-0, at No. 2, and senior Emily Annis beat sophomore Lindsay Aichinger, 8-1, at No. 5. Menard had missed most of the season, including the Saints' 6-3 regular-season victory over the Giants, with an injury, but was aggressive at the net and was hitting the ball with authority yesterday.

Brady pulled within 2-1 with a victory at No. 3, with junior Carly David beating sophomore Joan Carroll, 8-0. Carroll had also missed some time this season with an injury, and she was wearing a sling on her right arm after the match and didn't take part in doubles.

Brady's hopes for a tie through singles disappeared when Bacall beat Moran, 8-3, at No. 1 and Cara Richard knocked off Kate Foley, 8-3, at No. 6.

Suddenly, all the attention was on the fourth singles court, where Brady's O'Keefe had seen her comfortable 6-3 lead over Greenwood dwindle to 6-5, then disappear altogether at 7-7. But O'Keefe held serve to go up 8-7, then took charge with Greenwood serving, going up 15-0, 30-15 and 40-30 before Greenwood double-faulted, giving O'Keefe the match at 9-7 and keeping the Giants alive into doubles play.

"I was definitely feeling pressure, but I just kept my focus," said O'Keefe, who later acknowledged that at the time the No. 4 match was in the spotlight, she wasn't aware that a loss by her would have given the match to St. Thomas. "I always just try to get my point."

She got her point, but in the end it just wasn't enough.

To their credit, the Giants did manage to find their resolve in the second and third doubles matches to make the match more respectable, pulling within the final of 5-4 when Bryke and David rallied from 5-1 down to win 8-6 at No. 2, and Aichinger and Erin Spaulding scored five of the last six points to win, 8-5, at No. 3.

Moran, in her post-match assessment, credited the Saints but also said her team didn't have its best day.

"St. Thomas is a great team, no doubt about it, " she said. "Especially at the top of the ladder. They played well today. ... Tennis is a game of momentum. You just have to ride it."

And why did the Giants' ride come up just short?

"I think a couple of our girls just didn't play as well as they're capable of," she said. "They could have been nervous."

St. Thomas Coach Heather Greenwood would probably concur. She harkened back to last season, when the Saints lost in the title game to Hanover, to explain her team's edge yesterday.

"It was huge. Huge," Greenwood said of the experience gained in last year's title match. "Coming here, just being comfortable with your surroundings ... I didn't have butterflies - last year I did."

That's good news for the Giants. With only one senior on the roster (Moran at No. 1), the Giants could return two freshmen, a sophomore and two juniors.

And maybe then they'll have the experience to follow the script to fruition