The Emmaus High School boys tennis team earned silver medals after competing in the District 11 Class 3A boys team tennis final against Liberty on May 2 when the Hornets were runners-up to the Hurricanes at Lehigh University.

“This season has definitely met and exceeded all my expectations,” said Emmaus coach Fred Saab. “We improved so much, and then having a district singles champion (Chris Stone) is amazing.”

When it was established that Liberty won the district championship by winning three out of five matches, play continued at No. 1 and No. 2 singles.

“Generally, the match is stopped, but because they were in heated battle, we just let them finish the match,” Saab said.

The most heated competition was at No. 1 singles between Emmaus’s Nick Stone and Liberty’s Luke Appleman.

Appleman won the first set, 6-0, but Stone forced a tiebreaker in the second set, eventually won by Appleman, 7-6(5).

At No. 2 singles, Chris Stone won the first set, 6-4, but Liberty’s Roman Farhad led in the second set, 4-3, when the No. 1 singles match ended.

“Since it was already 4-0 (overall), we didn’t let that last one finish,” said Saab.

Emmaus’s Caleb Brown and Liberty’s David Broczkowski were the first to finish at No. 3 singles, won by Broczkowski, 6-0, 6-0.

At No. 1 doubles, Emmaus’ Ben Fletcher and Quinn Durkin fell to Liberty’s Caden Vermuelen and Elijah Quan, 3-6, 3-6, and at No. 2 doubles, Ayden Kegley and Caleb Brashear lost to Liberty’s Connor Ohl and Finn Brown, 3-6, 2-6.

The third-seeded Hornets reached the district final by defeating second-seeded Parkland, 3-2, on April 30 at Parkland.

“It’s been a long time since we beat Parkland, so to beat them in the semifinals and make it to the finals as a team was a great accomplishment,” Saab said. “Plus, we came in third in the EPCs (Eastern Pennsylvania Conference Tournament) with a lot of our guys medaling, which was quite an accomplishment after last year.”

District singles tennis champ Chris Stone will compete in the PIAA Class 3A state tournament on May 24 in Hershey.