Everything that could have gone wrong didn’t when Freedom was faced with a shortage of players in its tennis match against Whitehall on Friday, so Patriots coach Mark Sigmon did some scrambling with the hope that just one, not three of his players would have to do double duty in the match, ultimately won by the Pates, 5-1, at Freedom.

“We did well because we were missing part of our three doubles and moved part of four doubles up to three, and we have a good team at two doubles. I didn’t think we’d win four doubles because I played a girl who’s been playing tennis for 12 days,” Sigmon said. “But we only had seven players, so someone had to do double duty today. If we have our full team, I’m not a whole lot worried about the match, but I thought we played well today considering the circumstances.”

Freedom doubles player Annika Katchur came through for the Pates twice, winning at two doubles with partner Isabella Barberis, 6-4, 6-2, over Brenna Pangaro and Alexis Bundra, and winning at four doubles with newcomer MaeLee West-Spiegler over Olivia Yarko and Camila Araque, 8-4.

In singles play, Isabella Szmodis won at number one, 6-3, 6-1, against Sonakshi Sharma, but had to wait for a couple other matches to finish in case she would be needed at one doubles since the Patriots already lost at two singles, a forfeit to Bundra.

“Things I’ve been working on for the past year are getting underneath the ball and trying to hit angles. I liked how I was pushing her back and making her hit errors today,” said Szmodis. “I think we’re doing pretty well, working pretty hard, and working together on that.”

Last year’s two doubles player, Navya Manne, has moved up to three singles and pulled out a three-set match over Miranda Ortiz, 6-4, 3-6, 6-2.

“Trying to not double fault is what worked. Losing points on my serve is not helpful,” said Manne. “I was stressing out a little when her score was higher, and she would keep getting the ball over, and that was pretty tiring.”

Coach Sigmon encouraged Manne to finish off the second set to win the match, but it took a third set to get the win.

“I just calmed down and hit the strokes how I knew to and kept being consistent,” Manne said. “Playing singles is harder because it’s more work covering the court, but I enjoy singles more because I like being independent on the court.”

Freedom’s three doubles team of Liyana Paiker and Katie Twiggar defeated Olivia Toto and Giovanna Yacoub, 6-3, 7-5.

The Patriots have a challenging week ahead with matches against Nazareth and Parkland. Coach Sigmon also expects a big challenge from Bethlehem Catholic and Easton.

“After those, we could win the rest or split the rest,” he said. “If we were 8-8, I’d be very happy. The way we’re playing, we could end up anywhere from 8-8 to as much as 10-6, which would be a real good thing.”