The Whitehall girls tennis team is still developing under second-year coach Sean Devine, and he hopes that turns into a 2016 district berth.

They’re currently 6-4 and will look to improve on that record as they play Allentown Central Catholic and Northampton this week. Devine said that making the district playoffs is their goal, and they currently occupy the eighth and final spot in the District XI AAA power rankings.

They got off to a great start this season, winning four of five matches, and those victories started to boost their confidence. However, their 6-1 loss to East Stroudsburg South on September 1 served as a wake-up call, according to Devine.

He said while they weren’t overlooking ESN, they perhaps “took them too lightly.” With such a young team, they need to know that every match is crucial and they need to be focused on that opponent.

They also had some matches against perennial powerhouses in the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference. One of those was against the Red Rovers who feature Elessa Jacobs who won the No. 1 singles title in the EPC last year. Even though they lost 7-0 to Easton on Monday afternoon, Devine said that they played their best tennis of the year to date.

The push is now to get into the playoffs. Devine sees some matches where they can compete and perhaps earn a victory, while others will present a bigger challenge. One of those is Nazareth whose top two singles players are sisters. Halle and Sydney DeNardo have combined to win 15 matches so far this year. Still, he believes they can stay competitive and maintain their hold on the district spot.

“We want to put ourselves into position to be one of those teams,” said Devine.

In their victory against Pen Argyl last week, they won the No. 1 and No. 2 singles matches as Emily Yenser defeated Kayla Flyte 6-0, 6-3. Nicole Peluso defeated Vivian Smith in straight sets, 6-0, 6-1.

Whitehall swept the doubles matches, with Heylee Chan and Sandra Reeves wining in a pro set over Molly Kutz and Sarah Kitterman, 8-7.

At No. 2 doubles, Teresa Nappo and Maria Tran won 6-2, 6-3 over Hannah Asaka and Marya Samerdzhieva 6-2, 6-3, while at No. 3 doubles Catherine Chen and Adriana Ordonez downed Alexia Brown and Madalyn Buskirk 6-0, 6-1. Finally, at No. 4 doubles Brianna Smith and La’Naa Roberts won their match against Angela Culver and Makayla Santiago 6-1, 6-0.