For the second year in a row, the Whitehall boys tennis team will be playing in the district playoffs, a testament to the growth of the program under head coach Austin Berg.

On the strength of another winning season, the Zephyrs are among the top eight teams vying for a team championship in the District XI 3A Team Tennis Championships. The Zephyrs also made history when they traveled to Stroudsburg to kick off the opening round of the D-11 tourney, defeating the Mounties 4-1, earning them a semifinal date with No. 1 seed Liberty on Tuesday. It’s the first time a Whitehall boys tennis team has won a match in the district tournament.

With that opening round win, the Zephyrs are currently 11-4, a far cry from when Berg took over the program in 2011, barely able to field a team and not a victory to be found.

Berg said that matches are set up differently in the league championships as both teams are now playing a best-of-five to determine a winner.

In their win over the Mounties, they got victories at No. 1 and No. 2 doubles, along with No. 2 and No. 3 singles.

At No. 1 doubles, partners Nick Demjan and Erik Poon defeated Tim Geiger and Stevenson Lamour in straight sets, 6-4, 6-3.

Consistency has been the hallmark of that duo, as once again they prevailed against the opposition. It’s a pairing that Berg has come to rely on all season.

At No. 2 doubles, Berg had to juggle his pairings so he opted to use Noah Zahradnik and Trevor Girardi against Adam Malec and Stephen Bauer. That paid dividends as the duo won a tough three-setter 7-5, 3-6, 7-5.

Zahradnik’s ability to step in and deliver in a tense atmosphere helped the Zephs claim that big win.

“He really came through,” said Berg.

Berg said that once Zahradnik knew he was going to be playing at No. 2, he became focused and did his best.

Nick Rohn was stellar at No. 3 singles, defeating Caleb Secor, 6-0, 6-1, while Gavin Meyers was resilient in his win at No. 2 singles, toppling Michael Irlbeck, 7-5, 6-3.

Their only loss came at No. 1 singles as Jeremy Lim was upended by Brycen Butz, 3-6, 6-7 (4-7).

Berg said they had a great performance against Stroudsburg, noting that only one match went to three sets.

“Everybody played well,” he said.

Lim, who has only lost four singles matches all year, made it to the second round of the District XI 3A Boys Singles Championships last week. After defeating Bangor’s Ian Absalom, he found himself facing Parkland’s Alex Son who had defeated Rohn in three sets in the opening round.

Son emerged victorious once again, but not without another grueling match. This one also went three sets, with Lim taking the first in a tiebreaker, and then Son rushing back to take the next to advance to the quarterfinals.

Berg said that their match was “incredible,” a back-and-forth affair that lasted about three hours.

“It was pretty intense,” said Berg. “He was moving Alex around, doing what he had to do, it was a good match.”

They’ll now face Liberty in the semifinals and Berg knows it will be a difficult task to knock off the No. seed. He said it will be hard to pull two victories from the singles rounds (Liberty single players Daniel Lynn and Louis Gruber made it to the semifinals of the D-11 tourney), but they’ll be ready for the challenge.

“Hopefully, they can give them a good fight,” said Berg.