There are mile markers in every sport and every season. For Emmaus tennis, a showdown with defending district champion Freedom was one of those markers in what the Hornets hope is going to be a successful season as they look to perhaps be the one to dethrone the Patriots.

The Hornets passed this marker with flying colors, picking up a 5-2 win over Freedom, including winning two of the three singles matches.

“I knew going in that singles was going to be tough,” said coach Dmitri Diamandopoulos. “They have Ross [Sonnenblick] at number-two and he’s a three-year starter and three-year singles player, and Aidan [Bodeo-Lomicky] has definitely improved, he’s made a big improvement, I feel.

“He made some unforced errors, but he played really well and Matt [FitzMaurice] had to play his game and he was definitely on.”

FitzMaurice, the defending singles champion in District 11, is undefeated in the early going and grabbed a 6-4, 6-2 win over Bodeo-Lomicky. Number-three Cam Widdoss downed Ronak Desai 6-3, 7-5. Sonnenblick pulled out a hard fought 6-4, 6-2 win over Sanket Narayana for the lone Freedom win in singles.

“This was a great match,” said FitrzMaurice. “Aidan’s a sophomore and he’s got a great career ahead of him and I’m glad I caught him before I graduate and I’m excited to see him finish, because he’s going to do good stuff,” said FitzMaurice of his win.

Coming into his senior season, FitzMaurice is taking the challenge of repeating as district champion one match at a time, but hoping to cap his senior season with not only another championship, but with a match against longtime friend, Nick Kshatri of Parkland, who FitzMaurice beat in last year’s singles championship.

“I haven’t thought about it too much,” said FitzMaurice. “I’m just going to try to play every match as just that match. For me, it’s more about seeing the team grow and perform and play as a unit.

“Nick and I play once or twice a week and we’re doubles partners in tournaments, so we see each other pretty often and we kid each other about it, but it’s all in good fun. I wouldn’t want to play anyone else.”

While everybody would love to start the season 4-0 like Emmaus has, Diamandopoulos knows that things are only going to get tougher as the season goes on. While Freedom (0-3, 1-3) was the first mile marker, Nazareth (5-0, 5-0) and Parkland (3-0, 3-0), considered two of the best teams in the EPC remain on the schedule.

“We have more work to do,” Diamandopoulos said. “I think Parkland and Nazareth are going to be in our way and we need to change up some things and make some adjustments as far as having a little more aggressiveness on the doubles teams.

“Singles players are doing fine, we just need to cut down on some unforced errors, but we’re doing well and I think we have to start believing in ourselves.

“This was definitely a step that we needed to get over, and it was our first big challenge. The other teams we played are good teams, but this was definitely a challenge for us, because of their singles lineup.”

Emmaus and Nazareth meet at Nazareth on April 8 and Parkland will be visiting Emmaus just five days later. As for Freedom, the Patriots’ season has opened with not just Emmaus, but Nazareth and Parkland and they’ve lost all three matches by a combined score of 18-3, which doesn’t bode well for their odds of repeating.

FitzMaurice doesn’t know how the season will wind up, but he does know that his senior year is one that he’ll long remember, no matter what the outcome.

“On and off the court, it’s been a blast,” said FitzMaurice. “We’ve got an awesome team connection and watching these guys perform on the court and everyone supporting each other, I couldn’t ask for more.”