Throughout the girls tennis season, Parkland junior Jenna Peng has relied on her patience and mental toughness.

Facing East Stroudsburg South's Brittany Poje in the District 11 Class 3A girls tennis final at West End Racquet Club, those attributes were on full display.

But so was the power and skill of Poje, who outdueled Peng in three sets 6-1, 2-6, 6-3 to win her first district title.

The Cavalier sophomore stormed to an early lead, overwhelming Peng in the first set, which took only 20 minutes to complete. But Peng wasn't overly discouraged.

"I told her that its time to start over," Parkland coach George Grim said. "But Jenna's very strong mentally. She knows at that point that she can't dwell on the past and she's gotta focus on what she's going to do next."

In the second set, that fortitude paid off. Peng immediately broke Poje and seemed to shake the Cavs top player. The patient Peng got her second break of the set to go up 4-1 and then fought through deuce on both of her final two service games to win the set 6-2.

A year after losing 6-2, 6-1 to Poje in the District 11 semis, Peng had all the momentum heading into the third and decisive set.

"I told her to slow it down and take her time between shots because Brittany likes to play at a very fast pace," Grim said. "She can get impulsive at times, so I wanted [Jenna] to take her time and vary her shots, which she did."

But Poje quickly turned the flow of the match in her favor by using a powerful serve that Peng struggled to return in the last set. The more points Poje got from her serve, the more confident she became.

After falling behind 3-0 and 5-1 in the third, Peng finally broke Poje to get it to 5-2. Peng then had a deft volley at the net to win her serve and cut it to 5-3.

With Poje serving, the Trojan player fought off two championship points to force deuce, but Poje found her serve for two straight points to put the match away.

"I think [Jenna] played well, but Brittany played a little better," Grim said. "[Jenna] wasn't herself when it came to approaches and volleys. She's usually been very consistent with that and its part of her game that's very solid, but today Brittany passed her several times when she was at the net."

Peng wasn't the only Parkland player to fall to Poje during the singles tournament. Second singles player TuQuyen Pham, the tournament's seven seed, feel to the second-seeded Poje 6-2, 6-3 in Saturday's quarterfinals. Poje then beat her twin sister Kaitlyn to reach the final. Kaitlyn Poje finished third in the tournament.

Colleen Wylie was also in the single tournament, defeating Pocono Mountain East's Jessica Lynch 6-3, 6-1 before falling to sixth seeded Yasmine Hasan of Stroudsburg 6-3, 6-3 in the second round.

Peng will team with Pham in the District 11 doubles tournament, which begins Friday at West End. The duo is the top seed for the tournament after falling to the Poje sisters 6-4, 6-4 in last season's final.

"They were looking forward to doing a little better in the singles," Grim said of his top two players. "But I think its a way to come back and salvage something. I expect them to do well."

The tandem is one of three Parkland teams in the field, joining two regular doubles teams. Nida Bajwa and Kendall Gedeon, the Trojans' top regular doubles players, square off against fourth seeded Flannery Johnston and Federica Maranzana in the first round. Johnston was fourth in the singles tournament.

Parkland's other doubles team is the tandem of Rachel Wong and Lauren Knafo, who went unbeaten at third doubles this year. They face Whitehall pair Aisling Doyle and Laura Youwakim in the first round.