Calling this season perhaps his most satisfying, Northwestern Lehigh's Henry Paiste conquered the District 11 Tennis Tournament for the fourth straight time. Paiste downed Moravian Academy's Zach Shaff 7-5, 6-2 on Monday and became the first male player to win the district tournament four times.

"I think it's tied with my tenth-grade year," said Paiste of his satisfaction with the tournament. "I don't play regular season high school tennis, so any year that I can go through the tournament without dropping a set is special to me, so I'd say that this and my tenth-grade year are very special to me.

"I think I really played dominant tennis this year. I had some adversity in my semifinal and today, being down 2-5 in the first, but I'd say those two years match pretty evenly for me."

Shaff seemed destined for an upset in the early going and took a 5-2 lead in the first set. Paiste battled back and used a powerful serve to help him rally.

Shaff again seemed determined to bounce back and had the second set tied 2-2 before Paiste went on a dominating roll and methodically worked his way to the straight sets win over the tournament's number two seed. Besides winning the final four games of the second set, Paiste won the final 11 points of the match, primarily because of a strong serve that seemed to get stronger as the match went on. Shaff was unable to successfully return any of Paiste's final seven serves in the match.

Paiste appeared determined to grab gold medal number four, but he admitted after the match that he never looked at this tournament as an opportunity to win four straight medals. He came into the tournament with the same determination that he has always had and believes that he took the right approach.

"I can't believe it right now," he said. "You don't come into high school tennis thinking you're going to win four in a row, so I'm just grateful for the opportunity; it means the world to me.

"For me, it was just focusing on one at a time, so this year, I told all of my friends and family, 'I'm not playing for four in a row. I'm playing for one.' It was going to be three for me and then whatever happened this year and I wanted to take it one tournament at a time and see what happens from there."

The only other player to win four consecutive titles was Central Catholic's Sheila O'Donnell, who accomplished the feat from 1979-1982.

Overall, Paiste is an incredible 234-48 in District 11 Tournament games during his high school career. He's also dropped just two sets during that time, which both game in the finals. Statistically, the first set of the finals has been the toughest for Paiste, who is a combined 54-28 in finals games.

Next up for Paiste is another trip to the PIAA Tournament in Hershey. Last year, Paiste made it to the semifinals before being ousted from the tournament. So far, Paiste hasn't been able to capture a state title, but he'll get another crack at it when the tournament begins on May 23rd at the Hershey Racquet Club. A gold medal there would cap an enormous high school career for Paiste as he prepares for a college career at either Elon or the University of Alabama - Birmingham

"I think I'm serving some of the best tennis of my life right now," said Paiste. "I'm really just teeing off on my serve and getting some free points and opening up the court. I'm just hoping that I can serve well. The courts in Hershey play fast, so I think if I serve well, I'll do just fine."