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LEHIGH VALLEY WEATHER

Tennis preps for districts

For the Northampton girls' tennis team, it can apparently be a tale of two seasons.

They finished their regular season Tuesday afternoon with a 5-0 win over Wilson that gave them an impressive 15-1 mark for the season.

Yet, the postseason has been a different story, according to head coach Eileen Carbone. Both in the singles' and doubles' postseason play, the Kids have fallen victim to some ill-willed fate.

"Our regular season was great and our postseason has been the opposite," said the veteran coach. "We got some lousy seeds and ones that I can't figure out how we got. It was the total opposite for us in the postseason."

In singles play, number one player Darby McCall fell to Stroudsburg's Yasmine Hasan while sister Maddie McCall lost to eventual singles champion Brittany Poje of East Stroudsburg, both in the opening round.

The McCall sisters were their team's top doubles' team in the district play that will begin Monday and they meet a duo from Pocono Mountain East. Maureen Weaver and Leah Hodge, the team's number two doubles tandem, will meet a doubles team from Parkland.

"The McCall sisters have been solid for us all season," said Carbone. "They will have their hands full, but they have the ability to do. Both Maureen (Weaver) and Leah (Hodge) have had a great season and really developed through the year.

"Maureen was very close to Darby all season. She (Weaver) played number three. They both had great seasons. Ironically, Darby is ranked number two in her class and Maureen is ranked third."

Yet, Carbone has been troubled with a recent change in the formula to determine the team seeding. With their 15-1 record, the Kids loomed as the second-ranked team in Class AAA behind Parkland.

But a recent and late-season change to the format has dropped the Kids to the number four seed overall. As a result, they will meet fifth-seeded Emmaus in the opening round Tuesday and then would have Parkland to follow Thursday.

"We were the second seed and then we were dropped," stated Carbone. "With our record, I don't see how it happened, but it is the new ratings formula used by the district. If we would have stayed second, we would have had the chance to play Parkland in the finals. Now, if we get past Emmaus, we'll face them.

"To me, something isn't right with the overall picture. But we have to keep playing and competing."

League champs Bangor and Eastburg South jumped ahead of the Kids in the final seedings this season, forcing Northampton to fall to fourth.