Kaleigh DiNoto and Flannery Johnston brought their "A" game to the West End Racquet, Swim and Fitness Club on Monday.

Unfortunately for the talented Freedom High School doubles tennis team, they were playing an A+ opponent.

The District 11 Class AAA doubles tournament is a classroom that the Parkland duo of Jenna Peng and TuQuyen Pham have called home for the past three years. With a 14-1 district doubles record during their career, Peng and Pham have proven to be in a class by themselves.

Although the Patriots kept things interesting, they dropped a closer-than-it-sounds, 6-4, 6-2 decision in the championship match of the District 11 Class AAA Doubles Tennis Tournament.

"Flannery and Kaleigh played well," said Freedom coach Mark Sigmon. "But playing well isn't good enough against Parkland. You have to play great.

"I was happy with how we played. We had chances in both sets. We lost a close first set despite only holding serve once in five games. Then in the second set, we were ahead 30-0 three times and 40-15 twice and didn't win any of those games. You have to take advantage of those kinds of opportunities when you are playing a team as good as Parkland."

Freedom fell behind 3-0 in the opening set before rallying to within, 5-4. That was as close as it would get, however, as Peng held serve to close it out.

"This is our first year playing doubles together and the first time either of us was ever in a district final," said DiNoto. "As much as you tell yourself that it's just another match and to be relaxed, it's a little difficult to do on a stage like this against the defending district champions.

"I think we might have been a little nervous early and they jumped out to a quick lead. But I thought we calmed down after that and played pretty well. I was happy with our performance."

The Patriots, who defeated Easton, Pleasant Valley, Liberty and Southern Lehigh – all in straight sets – to reach the final, knew they had little margin for error against a Parkland team that is a three-time District 11 finalist and two-time District 11 champion.

"I thought we had a great tournament," said Johnston. "Our goal was to reach the finals and then give it our best shot and see what happened.

"I thought we battled them pretty tough. I've known Jenna and TuQuyen for years and they're great players. We had to play our best to have a chance and I thought we did that. Unfortunately, today that just wasn't quite good enough."

That's because even though an "A" is always a passing grade, it sometimes doesn't put you at the head of the class.