The Whitehall boys tennis team broke new ground last week under head coach Alex Berg, sending two doubles teams into day two of the league tournament.

Their No. 2 doubles team of Alex Rohn and Max Nuscher advanced to the second day of the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference tournament, winning 8-0 against Pocono Mountain West’s tandem of Joe Romano and Tom Gaudette, and then disposing of Nick Vo and Youseff Elmontacir of Pleasant Valley, 8-1. Those wins put them into the semifinals against Nazareth’s Matt Soika and Joe Guagliardi.

The No. 4 doubles team of Nick Demjan and Hazem Abdelaal also made it to the second day of the EPC tourney held at Pocono Mountain East High School. First they defeated the Easton duo of Ethan Gabay and Zach Stergio, 8-2, and then downed Stroudsburg’s C J Long and Steve Lamour, 8-2. That puts them in the semis against Nazareth’s Brian Smith and Nick Mitchell.

Before this season, none of Berg’s players had advanced past the first round. This time they secured a spot in the semifinals in both the No. 2 and 4 doubles. They were supposed to resume action on April 23, but the league decided to postpone the second round until May 2, citing bad weather.

No. 3 singles Alex Rohn played Parkland’s Aneesh Kapoor extremely tough, losing 8-5. It was a rematch of their contest just a few days earlier, with Rohn taking more games this time from the Trojan.

Head coach Alex Berg said that he was right with Kapoor, trailing 6-5. But he ran into some arm trouble that ultimately sealed his fate.

Gavin Meyers faced Freedom’s Ross Sonnenblick at No. 2 singles. Meyers lost 8-1, but Berg said that a number of their games went to deuce. He said it started before No. 3 singles, and ended after the 3 singles, illustrating how back and forth it was between the two. Meyers defeated East Stroudsburg North’s Josh Becker 8-4 to set up the match with Sonnenblick.

No. 3 doubles pair of Jordan Saliby and Erik Poon lost 8-6 in the first round, while Jeremy Lim lost in the first round at No. 1 singles to Freedom’s Aidan Bodeo-Lomicky, 8-1.

“They all did really well,” said Berg.

The Zephs resumed their regular season schedule last Friday when they hosted Bangor. Bangor was 12-2 coming into the match. A local publication had them ranked as the 7th best team in the area. Berg knew it would be a tough task knocking off one of the best teams in the Colonial League.

The Slaters displayed that talent, winning 5-2, handing the Zephs their seventh loss of the season. They still remain above .500, coming into this week at 8-7.

At No. 1 singles, Jeremy Lim lost to Tyler Learn 1-6, 2-6.

Gavin Meyers won in a three-set marathon, defeating Garrett Nelson 2-6, 7-5, 6-4.

Jordan Saliby, who was playing No. 3 singles in place of an injured Alex Rohn, won the first set against Ian Absalom 6-3. The Slater then took the next two sets 2-6, 0-6 to win the match.

The No. 2 doubles tandem of Nick Rohn and Max Nuscher were also in a three-set match. They lost the first in a tiebreaker 7-6, but rebounded to take the next set 6-0. They couldn’t sustain that momentum and dropped the third and decisive set 4-6.

At No. 3 doubles, Hazem Abdelaal and Nick Demjan lost to Paxton Ramsey and Connor Wilchek 2-6, 2-6, while the No. 4 duo of Erik Poon and Clement Mei defeated Louis Ortiz and Mike Mazzella 2-6, 6-2, 10-7.

The Zephs have continued to press teams in every match.

“We’re chugging along,” said Berg.