The first city rivalry girls tennis match of the season resulted in a 4-2 victory for Freedom over Bethlehem Catholic on Sept. 5 at Illick’s Mill.

The No. 3 singles match between Becahi’s Elizabeth Schock and Freedom’s Katie Ryer went to three sets with Schock coming out on top, 6-4, 3-6, 10-8.

“It was just an Elizabeth match. She can’t have short matches. One set’s gonna be long, no matter what,” laughed Becahi coach Dan Arkans. “She gets tired in the match sometimes, but she finds a way to pull through. She’s a very smart player.”

Coach Arkans and Freedom coach Mark Sigmon agreed to a match tiebreak in lieu of a full third set for Schock and Ryer.

“It was going back and forth between points, but eventually I got through because I realized she was not as good at her backhand as her forehand,” Schock said. “I’ve always had a rivalry with Freedom because I won my freshman year and lost my sophomore year, so this was a comeback for me.”

Becahi also won at No. 1 singles where Ava Burkhart won the first set against Khadeejah Hussain, 6-2. Hussain forfeited the second set at 1-0 due to personal reasons.

“I did not think I played my best today,” Burkhart said. “It’s been an adjustment now because the first week of matches were when school hadn’t started yet...but I still managed to pull it out. I’ve been trying to be more consistent. I’ve had a tendency of trying to hit bombs and then they go flying or out, so today, I focused on letting her make the mistakes and me being consistent and hitting it back.”

Freedom’s Misha Braski won at No. 2 singles over Judy Pintor, 6-0, 6-0.

In doubles play, Freedom’s Daniela Guzzo and Viola Avitabile defeated Louisa Robinson and Selena Phan at No. 2, 6-2, 6-3.

“Once we started getting in the groove, it became a lot easier,” Guzzo said. “Viola’s really good at the net, putting them away, and that’s the end of the point.”

Guzzo and Avitabile recently came off a big doubles win and team win against Nazareth.

“We won in a tiebreaker. It was a pretty intense match,” said Avitabile. “When Daniela’s at the net, she covers a lot of ground. It’s really impressive watching her cover the court.”

Freedom’s Aurora Clark and Esha Kotadia defeated Madison Araniego and Sasha Mathew, 6-2, 6-0, at No. 3 doubles, and at No. 4 doubles, Bailey Barber and Gwen Adriguez won for the Patriots, 6-1, 6-2, over Kiley Parkes and Sophia Fiorini.

“Our doubles should be stronger,” said Coach Arkans. “Fourth doubles could’ve done a lot better. That was disappointing. I don’t know if they didn’t want the pressure. They did well with the pressure the other day.”

On Sept. 3, Parkes and Fiorini won their match against East Stroudsburg South’s Leylia Joseph and Neyla Joseph, 2-6, 6-4, 6-4, to assure a 4-2 team victory over the Cavaliers.

Becahi will compete in its second city rivalry match on Sept. 11 when they face Liberty.

Freedom has two matches at home where they take on East Stroudsburg South on Sept. 11 and Parkland on Sept. 13.