Two doubles pairs from Bethlehem Catholic High School's boys tennis team competed in the quarterfinal round of the District XI Class AA Doubles Championships last week at Parkland High School.

Niko Franekic and Ryan Schmidt defeated the doubles team from Jim Thorpe 6-0, 6-0, and the doubles team from Blue Mountain 5-7, 6-4, 6-4, before losing to the team from Moravian Academy, 7-6, 1-6, 4-6.

Becahi coach George Harmanos said, "It was a very good doubles match [against Moravian Academy]. They did a real good job. They let up in the second set, and in the third set, they were up 4-3, trying to hold serve. Then they did. One service break in a set means they're playing really well. They followed our plan, but there was a missed volley here and there."

Although somewhat disappointed in not making it to the semifinal, Franekic and Schmidt, both seniors, felt they played well.

"It was the funnest match we played all year because it was so close, and there was a lot of back and forth," said Schmidt.

Both singles players, Franekic and Schmidt barely played as a doubles team together all year.

"It was competitive, and it tipped their way. If we had more first serves in consistently and made returning harder ... Doubles points are often won at the net," Franekic said.

Peter Demyan and Luke Mesko defeated the doubles team from Wilson 6-2, 6-1, and the doubles team from Salisbury 6-4, 6-2, before losing to Saucon Valley 2-6, 2-6.

"In the first few games [against Saucon Valley], we were aggressive, but then they got used to us and had good shots," said Demyan.

The doubles team from Salisbury was the sixth seed.

"They were getting frustrated, hitting shots long, and we were able to get more points at the net," Demyan said.

The Wilson match was a bit less challenging for the Hawks.

"We tried to stay away from [one of the players], but we also knew he probably wasn't good at doubles," said Demyan.

Like Franekic and Schmidt, Demyan and Mesko rarely played together as a doubles team.

Mesko said, "We were disappointed, but we went pretty far. We thought we had a chance [against Saucon Valley], but we had to play really good. It would have been nice to have won a medal, but we did pretty good."

Also competing in district doubles for the Hawks were John Corley and David Napierkowski, who lost to Salisbury in three sets, 7-5, 3-6, 9-11.