Parkland tennis had a tough week last week, playing two very good teams in back-to-back matches. First was a showdown in Bethlehem against Freedom (6-1, 6-1), followed by a match against preseason favorite Easton (6-0, 6-0) at Parkland.

The Trojans wound up on the wrong side of a 4-3 score in both matches. Head coach Michael Hingston believes that his team didn’t play badly and the scores weren’t a great representation of his team’s play.

“We had hoped that they might win all of the singles, but we would win all of the doubles, but that didn’t happen,” he said. “Our singles played well, even though the scores don’t show it. They played some of their best tennis of the season, it’s just that these were just such tough matches.”

Two of Parkland’s doubles teams came out of the two tough matches with wins on both days. Maanasi Gothoskar and Sabrina Ghosh downed Freedom’s number-four doubles team 6-1, 6-4 and then beat Easton 6-3, 6-2. The young tandem of freshman Jess Marks and Joanna Wu downed Easton 6-2, 6-0 and then beat Easton 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 in a grueling match last Thursday.

“That’s a quality win for them,” said Hingston of the three-set win by Marks and Wu. “Especially considering that it’s a ninth grader and a tenth grader and the ninth grader has only played a couple of varsity matches. Obviously, there are nerves involved and for her to step up today and be able to play like that was big. She grew up a bit today and that bodes well for us and for her in the future.”

Hingston believes his team will be better for having played two of the tougher teams on its schedule. Competing against high-caliber talent gave Parkland (3-2, 3-2) players an opportunity to play against higher ranked opponents, which will prepare them for other matches this season against good teams, especially in the postseason.

“It shows you where you need to go and that’s important, for our players to see what one of the top teams in the area looks like,” Hingston said. “These girls that are playing one-two-three for Easton, they’re playing tournaments. They’re taking lessons. They’re playing all year-round, playing indoors in winter and that’s how they’ve gotten as good as they are.

“Do we have players that want to make that kind of commitment? Maybe we’ve got some young players who can get that kind of thing going for when these Easton kids finally graduate, because they’ve got some time ahead of them.”