Salisbury's Amanda Roelker and Claudia Crouthamel came as close and they could to winning each of two sets in the second round of the District 11 doubles tournament last week.

The Falcon freshmen duo won their first round match, but lost by a 7-6 (7-4), 7-8 (8-6) in the second round.

Roelker and Crouthamel made it to set point, building a 6-4 lead in the second-set tiebreaker before the Central Catholic pair ran off four straight points to win the match. Hannah Pruzinsky Alyssa Aviles

"I feel like we gave 110 percent and we played the best that we played all year," said Roelker, who picked up some experience a week earlier in the District 11 singles tournament. "It was awesome experience. It was really great to meet all these players and to be able to play against them and compete. It's definitely changed the way I play tennis. The level of competition is so high here."

Salisbury saw three doubles teams compete in districts. The senior tandem of Talli Oliver and Michelle Dang drew a difficult first-round match up in Bethlehem Catholic's Alexandra Madison and Brooke Adams, who won 6-0, 6-2.

Salisbury also had a pair of juniors competing at districts in Laura Albright and Hannah Kahn, who lost their first-round match to Palisades Christy Eichlin and Julie Samuels, 6-0, 6-2.

Roelker and Crouthamel, who played double during the regular season with Faith Moore, opened with a win over Wilson's Emily Reiter and Shannon Mattes, 6-3, 6-0.

"We never played in a real doubles match before so it was nice to see how we worked together," said Crouthamel.

The pair wasn't discouraged by the second-round loss. The experience of playing in two tiebreakers should be an asset in future district tournaments.

"Winning a round in districts is huge," said Falcon head coach Rob Benson. "It shows them that it can be done. They lost in the second round, but they lost in two tiebreaker sets. And a lot of people are talking about the Salisbury freshmen. That's a good thing."

The district tournament was the culmination of a successful rebuilding season for the Lady Falcon tennis program. The team had 10 players this year, twice as many as in 2012.

Salisbury won four Colonial League matches this season, which is three more than last season. And six players got district tournament experience, four of which will return next year.

"I think we came together really well," said Crouthamel. "Most of the people had never played before. It was fun to see how they progressed and learned."