Liberty versus Freedom’s number two singles match and their number three singles match played side-by-side as onlookers anticipated the outcome of the District XI Class 3A Team Tennis Final with Freedom holding a 2-1 lead, but eventually won by Liberty, 3-2, on May 5 at Saucon Valley High School.

“I think the coolest thing is that this was a representation of tennis in Bethlehem, so regardless of who won or lost, it was a good day for Bethlehem in terms of tennis and our tennis community,” said Liberty coach Chris Conrad. “There’s good tennis in Bethlehem, and we’re hoping that in the future, Freedom and ourselves are constantly battling for these medals.”

The match at number two doubles was the first to finish with Liberty’s Jacksen Jobes and Elijah Quan winning, 6-1, 6-0, over Freedom’s Tyler Malitzki and Matt Davis, putting the Hurricanes ahead, 1-0.

Freedom’s Noah Potts then evened the match, 1-1, after winning at number one singles, 6-2, 6-0, over Liberty’s Roman Farhad.

The Patriots took a 2-1 lead when Noah Rodburg and Luke Braido won their match at number one doubles, 6-4, 6-2, against Liberty’s Sid Tekumalla and Chris Giannaras.

“Luke Braido and Noah Rodburg have just been playing great,” said Freedom coach Matt Potts. “Super-talented kids, good athletes, so I had a good feeling they were gonna come out and play well today. Every match, they’ve improved.”

In addition, the Patriot pair had just defeated an unbeaten doubles team.

“My nerves hit as soon as first doubles lost,” Coach Conrad said. “Our first doubles was undefeated and their third singles was undefeated. They both went three sets last time, and we actually flipped this time.”

Two matches remained unfinished: Liberty’s Luke Appleman versus Freedom’s Gavin Labbadia at number two singles with a first set score of 7-6 (7-3), and Liberty’s David Broczkowski versus Freedom’s Arun Chhugani with a first set score of 7-6 (7-4).

“There’s that part of my brain that gets a little bit more nervous when more people are watching,” said Broczkowski, “but I’m grateful for all the people around me including Luke on the other court, giving me energy to help push me through.”

Broczkowski won the second set, 6-4, against Chhugani, and the match at number three singles.

“I think today I focused more, and I hit a lot more balls past the service line which helped me a lot,” Broczkowski said. “Near the end (of the first set) I was getting a little bit tired, and I wasn’t using my legs as much for upward momentum. I think that allowed [Arun] to come up close to the net and caused me to force errors and hit between the net and the service line. I knew the goal was to hit past the service line and to stay consistent.”

Chhugani had been previously undefeated this season.

“In matches like this, all you can do is put yourself in a position to win,” said Coach Potts. “We were in the position, but Liberty won the matches they needed to win. Arun is a really good counterpuncher. David played a really good match and didn’t give Arun a lot to work with. It was a good match.”

The Appleman versus Labbadia match would prove to be the tiebreaker with the team score, 2-2, and Appleman’s 6-4 victory in the second set put gold around the necks of the Hurricanes and silver around the necks of the Pates.

“Great season,” Coach Potts said. “We have six seniors, and that’s kind of the bittersweet part. Six seniors who’ve come this far and most of them who’ve been in the lineup and competing for four years, and I think they deserved it, but Liberty outplayed us today. They earned it.”

Liberty will compete in the PIAA Class 3A state team tennis tournament which is scheduled to begin May 16.