Bethlehem Catholic, Freedom, and Liberty’s boys tennis teams qualified for the District XI Class 2A/Class 3A team tournament, but only the Hurricanes will advance to a 3A semifinal after defeating Easton, 5-0, in a quarterfinal on April 29 at Liberty.

Bethlehem Catholic fell, 3-0, to Moravian Academy in Class 2A, and Freedom lost to Nazareth, 2-3, in Class 3A.

“Sure, anytime you don’t win everything, it’s a little disappointing, but we lost six starters and our top three players from last year, so if you had told me we were gonna be 13-3, it’s a pretty good year for us,” said Freedom coach Matt Potts, “but honestly, I was hoping to get to the final four, but I thought we had a good team. It was a good season.”

The No. 3 singles match was the first to finish where Freedom’s Matt Davis lost to Ishaan Patel, 4-6, 1-6.

Davis played several matches at doubles with Hardeep Sandhu during the regular season but replaced Eric Wu at No. 3 singles for districts because Wu is a transfer from Saucon Valley, and rules prohibit the Patriot junior from competing in the district tournament this year.

Next to finish was the No. 2 doubles match won by Freedom’s Angel Suarez and Joe Siessmayer, 6-2, 6-2, over Vereen Sheka and Carlos Igot.

“It’s really hot today, so I was just trying to get the ball over the net and stay consistent. Nothing crazy,” said Siessmayer. “There’s only five courts and every one is important. We really needed to pull this one out.”

Suarez’s powerful serve was problematic for the Nazareth pair.

“I watch videos on how to improve and go out on the weekends and just work on it,” said Suarez. “Toward the end, I was definitely hitting stronger because we had some room to spare.”

Freedom’s Hardeep Sandhu and Michael Sloma teamed up at No. 1 doubles but lost to Shivam Arora and Patrick Bacolo, 3-6, 1-6.

At No. 2 singles, Freedom’s Luke Braido lost to Logan Baltz, 2-6, 2-6.

The last to finish was the No. 1 singles match where Freedom’s Noah Rodburg defeated Gideon Knowles, 6-7(5), 6-2, 10-4.

“I thought we were the favorite at second doubles,” said Coach Potts. Logan has played Luke twice this year and beaten him both times, but they were competitive matches, so I thought he had a chance. Matt Davis is a very good player, and I thought he had a chance, and then one doubles, I wasn’t sure.”

Although the Patriots beat Nazareth, 4-2, in the regular season, three of the matches went to three sets. Adding to the uncertainty of which team would win the district quarterfinal was some shuffling in the Nazareth lineup in addition to Freedom’s.

Regarding the district doubles tournament that Potts was unable to attend last week, the Patriot coach caught up with his silver medalists, Noah Rodburg and Luke Braido, afterward.

“Luke and Noah have been a really good team, so I thought they could compete. When (substitute coach) Mark (Sigmon) told me it was 7-5, 4-0, I said that’s good, and then I didn’t hear back from him for a long time, and I thought, did he forget to text me? And then it was, we’re going to a third set,” Potts said. “It’s great. It’s a great accomplishment. They were playing second doubles last year. Noah and Luke have improved so much. They’re hardworking kids. It’s pretty cool to see that.”