It’s true, the Parkland boys tennis team did not win the 2021 District 11 CLass 3A team championship last Friday over Liberty on cruise control. It just looked like it.

The Trojans, who defeated the Hurricanes 3-1 at Northwood Racquet Club in Easton, have had all the yellow tennis balls this year bounce their way. A 14-0 regular season record, co-champs of the East Penn Conference tournament and now District 11 gold. Of course, that’s no accident. Good athletes who are in shape, mentally prepared, well-schooled in tennis acumen and flaming with enough emotion to push through when the going gets tough are dangerous.

“It’s about as good as it gets,” said Hingston of the district title. “These boys are fearless and have shown a lot of persistence all year.”

Fyodor D’Souza’s middle name could well be “persistence.” Parkland’s number three singles player is on a crusade to make sure every District 11 Class 3A coach knows his name. The junior has not lost a match all season. How’s that for pretty good? Possessing an arsenal of tennis weapons, he usually wears down, and then out, all of his opponents. In his district match, D’Souza handled Liberty’s Wyatt Marshall with relative ease, 6-3, 6-1.

While D’Souza is a good tennis player, he’s just one of the guys. And the rest of the guys, by the way, are just “one of the guys.”

“There’s just not a lot of the ego on this team,” Hingston said. “I mean each of the guys pull for their buddies. They pull for each other even if they lose their own match.”

Losing was not in the game plan of Parkland’s two doubles teams. Against the Hurricanes Ankit Lenka and Lucas Lee, and Mridul Gupta and Josh Jaffe were in charge. Lenkit and Lee downed Liberty’s Roman Fahad and Sid Tekumalla, 7-6 (7-3), 6-1, while Gupta and Jaffe beat Luke Appleman and Gavin Evans Gartley, 6-2, 6-0.

This is the final go around for Lenka, Gupta and Jaffe. The three seniors will end their careers playing for a state championship.

“I’m really happy for the seniors,” said the coach. “They provided great leadership for the team all year. They’ve been reliable and have set a legacy and set a standard for the rest of the team.”

The Trojans’ road to the title began with a defeat of East Stroudsburg South and a semifinal win over Freedom. The win over a quality Liberty squad proved challenging.

“It was not easy,” said Hingston.

Easy, no. But ultimately the Trojans were too much tennis team. They overcame Josh Thomas’ loss in the number one singles match to the Hurricanes’ Anthony Ronca. Liberty’s Shayaan Farhad held a 6-4, 6-3 lead over the Trojans’ Dan Zolotarev when the title was secure.

Up next for Parkland is District 11 3A doubles, followed by that trip to the state team playoffs.

“We’ll see where it takes us,” Hingston said.