The Emmaus girls tennis program served and volleyed to a strong opening week of tennis.

During a 5-2 win over Southern Lehigh on Aug. 25 at Emmaus High School, coach Robert Dragotta’s No. 3 singles Liza Duerholz defeated Sophia Delp 6-2, 6-2, while teammate Shelby Carter won by forfeit. However it was the Hornets’ doubles teams which proved the difference.

At No. 3 doubles, Reshma Beraj and Alexa Makoul won an entertaining match against Hanna Summer and Ella Ahnert 6-3, 4-6, 6-4. Beraj and Makoul have worked well together and are developing into consist tennis players for Dragotta. Emmaus received fine play also from its No. 4 pairing of Ashlyn Phy and Natalie Marks, who took care of business in beating Katherine Grum and Claire Stever 7-6 (7-5), 6-1.

The fourth doubles team also contributed on this day as Ava Saab and Karishma Beraj dismissed Southern Lehigh’s Caroline Grum and Megan Woods 6-1, 6-2.

“We have solid players and should have a good season,” Dragotta said.

Emmaus shutout two opponents during their first week - East Stroudsburg North 5-0 and Liberty 7-0. The win over the Hurricanes was closer than the score indicated. A case in point was the No. 2 Kate Smith’s 6-4, 2-6, 7-6 (7-5) nail-biter victory over Sruti Takumaia. Meanwhile Beraj and Makoul had their hands full in a 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 come-from-behind win over Bianca Justance and Erin Quan. Then No. 4 doubles Phy and Marks had two tough sets to get by the Spartans’ Ava Sabetti and Abigail Mayes 7-5, 7-6 (7-5).

“It was a very close match,” Dragotta said.

The Hornets were 5-0 for the season after a win Monday over Nazareth.