Liberty High School's number one singles player, Samantha Peterson, took the silver medal at the District XI Girls Singles Tennis Championships at Lehigh University on Monday.

"I really didn't expect it [to get to finals]. Second's not too bad," Peterson said.

The singles tournament began last week at Saucon Valley High School where Peterson defeated Emmaus's Elise VanOrmer, 6-3, 6-2, and Nazareth's Amber Achenbach, 6-1, 6-1.

In the quarterfinal match, Peterson went to three sets with Southern Lehigh's Katie Cole, ultimately winning, 2-6, 7-5, 6-2.

"In the second set, I was down 4 to love, but I had a triple match point. Somehow, I tried to stay in the match and eventually caught up," said Peterson. "I injured my leg towards the end of the second set, but it actually made me focus on something else."

The semifinal match, Peterson's second of the day, resulted in a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Northampton's Emma Angle.

"I was definitely really tired. She has deep, solid ground strokes, so I kept it deep and moved her around," Peterson said.

Monday's final at Lehigh University pitted Peterson, the number three seed, against Southern Lehigh's Nina DeLuna, the number one seed.

"I knew she was really good. I hit the night before at Liberty and worked on hitting good strokes," said Peterson.

Peterson ultimately lost, 6-0, 6-0.

Coach Leo Schnalzer said, "Sam hit a lot of good backhands to stay in the point. I think [winning] game 4 in the first set and game 1 in the second set [Peterson's strongest] would have made a difference in the match."

Peterson had some trouble with her serves in the beginning of the first set.

"I think I was going for a little too much," she said.

Midway through the first set, Schnalzer encouraged Peterson regarding her serves and movement.

"I told Sam to work her backhand more, but that is really difficult," said Schnalzer.

Peterson will move on to the District 11 Girls Doubles Tennis Tournament, which is scheduled to begin this Wednesday at Saucon Valley High School.