Mallory Conner is accustomed to the tournament tennis scene and the expectations that come with playing at a high level.

But last Thursday was unlike anything she had seen before.

Yet the pressure of a new experience and different surroundings didn’t faze the Northwestern freshman.

Conner left Lehigh University’s Ulrich Courts with a pair of victories and a spot in the District 11 Class 2A semifinals.

“The tournaments I play in are kind of like this, but this is way different,” Conner said. “It’s crazy.”

Since Northwestern doesn’t have a tennis team, Conner gets most of her competition through United States Tennis Association (USTA) events in Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

Conner’s success in those matches helped her achieve the No. 2 seed in the Class 2A bracket for the district tournament, and she showcased her abilities with two impressive wins to reach the semifinals. “I feel like I played way better in my second match, so I feel like I settled in a lot more,” she said. “In my first match, I felt like I was kind of antsy, like I was kind of pushing it too much. And in my second match, sometimes my serve will kind of help get me into a match, and that kind of helped me there, so that was nice.”

Conner posted a 6-2, 6-2 win over Moravian Academy’s Laura Li in the first round, before topping Saucon Valley’s Olivia Kuehner, who was seeded seventh, 6-0, 6-1 in the quarterfinals.

“I was asked by my coach if I was nervous, but I honestly wasn’t,” Conner said. “I do want to do good, but I know if I’m nervous then I might not play as good, so I was trying to just get into the mindset of do good, and whatever happens, happens.”

Conner faced Bethlehem Catholic’s Cara Magliochetti, the No. 3 seed, in the semifinals. The Golden Hawk came out on top

6-3, 6-4, on Friday morning at Saucon Valley High School before. Magliochetti then lost to Moravian Academy’s Francesca Bartolacci in the title match, 6-1, 6-3.

Conner was familiar with her semifinal opponent.

“I actually train with Mallory sometimes, so I know her and knew it was going to be a tough match,” Magliochetti said. “It was definitely challenging.”

Down 2-5 in the second set, Conner won the next two games.

“Whenever I win, especially when I’m down, and I know that if I lose, the set is over or the match is over, my momentum sort of switches, and usually that favors me, but it doesn’t always work out,” Conner said.

While Conner had a fairly easy time reaching the semifinal round after defeating Moravian Academy’s Laura Li, 6-2, 6-2, and Saucon Valley’s Olivia Kuehner, 6-0, 6-1, on Thursday, Conner’s match against Magliochetti put the Tiger freshman on defense at times.

“Better opponent. Different atmosphere,” said Conner. “I’ve never played here before. Cara’s more of a solid player. It’s harder. Today, I couldn’t keep my ground strokes consistent. Whether that was because of me or because of her, kind of depends. I think it was probably a little bit of both. She’s good at approaching and attacking. My slice was OK.”

In addition, Northwestern’s fan base was slim compared to Becahi’s since Conner is the only tennis player for the Tigers.

“The crowd’s all against me, I can kind of tell,” she said. “A lot of people were surprised that I was there [on Thursday] and that I was playing good. I’m excited that I got to come and get the experience of it, and next year’s totally gonna be fun too.”

Conner’s parents and her coach Brian Bleam were at the district tournament, however, to support the her.

“I think she was playing a little tight, hitting the ball short, so I was trying to tell her to hit the ball deeper and extend the point out a little bit longer, but she’s highly competitive and had a really good first serve,” said Bleam. “I know Cara really wanted to win her senior year, so it was a tough matchup.”

Though not experienced in varsity scholastic matches, Conner noted that she plays tournaments at least every other weekend, sometimes two weekends in a row.

She started playing the sport when she was around five years old.

“And my grandma, she’s in her 70s and she still plays tennis,” said Conner. “So she got me into it, and she got my dad into it and he plays.”

Conner’s current routine includes trips to Northwood Racquet and Fitness in Easton two days a week, lessons with her coach two or three days a week, a day of strength training and then tournaments typically on the weekends.

Though the district tournament was delayed from Monday due to weather, Conner was no less eager to take the court on Thursday.

“I was excited for it to happen,” she said. “I knew coming in, this is my first year; freshmen don’t really win districts. So I just want to do good. I wanted to get to semifinals at least.”

Her success in the tournament and throughout her career has been no surprise to coach Bleam, who she has worked with for around nine years.

“I’m not surprised because I’ve been working with her for so long,” said Bleam. “I’ve coached at the high school level, and I coached at Muhlenberg so I’ve seen the level of competition, and with Mallory, she’s got the ‘it’ factor. It’s kind of hard to put into words, but she’s very confident and that’s one of the things I stress with her, is to be confident and try and enjoy the challenge of the competition.

“And it’s kind of like she gets to prove herself, too, because people are trying to see who she is. So this avenue gives her a chance to compete against all the best players in the Lehigh Valley.”

For Conner, who also plays basketball, the competition is what she thrives on.

In tennis, Conner controls her own destiny. And she has a clear path to what she wants to achieve.

“She plays in USTA tournaments and whatnot, so she’s played actually a lot of No. 1s in the area; she’s beaten many of them,” said Bleam, who noted Conner won 24 games and lost only five Thursday. “We decided that early on, because we knew that she didn’t have a tennis team to play on, so we thought about how we could solve this problem. So I’ve been working with her two days a week, then she goes to Northwood and practices with those girls and she competes in these tournaments to try to get her tournament tough and just get that experience of the competition.

“Most of the girls in high school, they don’t play in the USTA tournaments; it’s not that common. For her, that’s the route we chose, and we made a goal to be district champ. That’s her goal, which would be awesome as a freshman. It’s not going to be easy, but she’s got a good chance.”