Last week’s Colonial League tennis tournament was a chance for individuals to prove where they stood amongst the league’s top players. Unfortunately for Salisbury, the Falcons had very little success.

No Falcon was able to win a match and advance to the next round of Wednesday’s win-or-go-home tournament. Moravian Academy doubles teams won both of the doubles tournaments, while Saucon Valley took two of the three singles brackets.

“My second doubles team, they are coming back next year, so they should be pretty good,” head coach Rob Benson said. “The only singles player who even got some games was Chris Marinos at No. 3.”

Marinos, ranked No. 5 at No. 3 singles, was the Falcons’ highest-ranked singles players. He fell to No. 4 Tim Gehman of Pen Argyl, 8-2. The other two singles players also struggled.

No. 1 singles Dylan Weber, ranked No. 8, came up short against No. 9 Brendan McMahon of Pen Argyl (6-2). At No. 2 singles, Patrick To lost to Wilson’s Rob Webb. To was seeded seventh coming into the tournament, while Webb was seeded No. 10.

“We gained some experience [this season], the second doubles team in particular,” Benson said. “CJ [Ekdahl] and Tanner [Ruth] learned how to play. I think Chris will show tremendous improvement next year.”

Ekdahl and Ruth, seeded No. 4 at the second doubles position, were the closest to winning a match. The duo won six points against Notre Dame-Green Pond’s _ Boyle and Lucas Anmolsingh before falling 8-6.

At No. 1 doubles, Brad Hnatow and Dylan Thompson were the highest seeded Falcons at No. 3. The duo, however, came up short against No. 6 Ethan Scott and Sean Johnson of Palisades, 8-4.

The Falcons will still have a chance at redemption and ending the season on a high note. The district singles tournament began on Monday in which two Falcons participated. Benson will also have a number of teams in the doubles tournament in the upcoming week.

Salisbury went 5-9 overall in 2019 and finished 10th in the District 11 Class 2A rankings, two spots away from reaching the team tournament.

“It doesn’t look that way,” Benson said regarding qualifying for team districts. “We have Weber and Marinos in the district singles tournament. And then I’ll put them together in the doubles tournament with my first and second doubles teams. We’re just trying to work on some stuff and get them ready for next year. It’s just one of those years.”