Freedom High School tennis players, Gabriella Greenhoward and Anjali Chhugani, were handed a big responsibility in their number four doubles match against East Stroudsburg South last week: to break a 3-3 tie between the two teams.

The Patriot duo handled it just fine as the Patriot duo won 7-6, 7-5, giving Freedom the 4-3 victory over the Cavaliers.

“We talked to our coach [Mark Sigmon] in between, and he told us it was a tie. It’s a lot of pressure when all your teammates are depending on you,” said Greenhoward during last Friday’s practice.

Match point began with two overheads by Greenhoward and ended with two overheads by Chhugani.

“Our whole team was cheering,” Greenhoward said. “The pressure was off, but it still felt tense.”

Sigmon stressed communication between the pair throughout the match.

Chhugani said, “In the first set, they’d win a game, and then we’d tie. It kept going back and forth, so when we won the first set, it was relieving. We were motivated to win the second set.”

As much as Greenhoward and Chhugani wanted to win the match for their team, they wanted to avoid having to play a third set for themselves.

“They were up 5-4 [in the second set], and we got really nervous. Once our coach talked to us, we were pumped up and won three games in a row,” said Chhugani.

In other doubles matches for Freedom, Madison McTier and Meghan Smith lost at number two 1-6, 1-6, and Rachel Loh and Olivia Chhugani lost at number three 6-7, 4-6, but Natalie Sinai and Kaitlyn Swint won at number one 6-1, 6-3.

In singles matches, Sinai lost at number one 4-6, 4-6, Swint won at number two 6-0, 6-0, and Becky Packo won at number three 6-0, 6-1.