The Emmaus girls tennis team came into the District 11 tournament seeded fifth and were thrown right into the fire against a tough Northampton team. While there were tight matches throughout, Northampton picked up wins in key matches and were able to get away with a 4-1 win over Emmaus.

Northampton was able to win the number two doubles match pitting Emily Moss and Georgia Weaver against Emmaus' Kristina Phelan and Amy Yang, 6-2, 2-6, 6-3, a reversal in fortune from the earlier meeting between the two teams during the regular season. That, combined with wins in tough singles matches between Northampton's Avery McCall and Emmaus' Catherine Garrity (6-3, 1-6, 7-6) were the difference in the match.

"They scored a win at number two doubles, a matchup we had won earlier in the season, and they won the close three-setter at number three singles," said head coach Kelly Musselman. "In that five point format, it could have gone either way."

Even with the close losses in key matches, Musselman sees a lot of encouraging things that the team can take into next season.

"Kelly Nguyen lost to Darby McCall in two sets (6-4, 6-3) during the regular season, so to come back with a win during the district match was very impressive," said Musselman. "Also at number three, Catherine Garrity lost to Avery McCall 6-3, 6-3 the first time that we played them, but she almost pulled out a three-set win during the district match."

Musselman wasn't completely surprised by the close match, pointing out that her team is much better than when they faced Northampton in the fourth match of the regular season.

"I think this reversal in scores just goes to show how much improvement there has been over the season," said Musselman.

The team tennis title wound up going to Parkland, who beat Southern Lehigh, Northampton and East Stroudsburg South on its championship run.

Musselman is hoping that next season's team is going to be at least as good as this year's version, but she loses five seniors - Phelan, Ciara Bryan, Lydia Fletcher, Hannah Ramsdell and Rose Zhang - which won't make it easy. Musselman is stressing offseason work to her players, suggesting tournament play and USTA team opportunities during the offseason. Boosters are also providing sponsored time at local clubs for players to get in extra work.

"We have a team that is deep with talent, so we expect to have a winning season next year, too," said Musselman. "We would like to come back and shock people with our improvement again next year."