The Northampton boys tennis team has advanced to several district contests in postseason play, including two seeds in the singles tournaments, two teams in the doubles tournament and an appearance in the team event.

As one of the top-eight teams in the district, Northampton faced number one seeded Nazareth, but the impending tough competition didn’t seem to deter this coach’s enthusiasm leading into the game.

“We’re just going to grip-it and rip-it and see what happens,” Davis chuckled, as he explained the team’s plan to take on the 15-1 Nazareth team.

Davis’ pride in the team’s accomplishments was apparent as he explained this was the first time the team had made it to team districts for two consecutive years. It is also only the third time ever that the team qualified for the team event.

The Kids put up a good fight and although they fell 5-0 to the Nazareth team, the score doesn’t begin to tell the story of the story of this match.

“We played hard and lost a lot of deuce points,” said Davis, still proud as ever and looking ahead to the District 11 doubles tournament, which begins on May 7.

The weather this season has not been on the team’s side. In fact, Davis will tell you that team has still not had a full outdoor practice, but it does not seem to have impacted the team’s skill on the court.

“When these kids play they play … they beat the teams they are supposed to beat and when they play a better team they focus in and do what they can,” Davis said.

This was certainly the case when Northampton’s Andrew Hozza and Chris Nemeth advanced to the District 11 singles which began on April 23. In the first round of play, Nemeth defeated Dieruff High School’s Jamie O’Neill in two games (6-4, 6-0). Nemeth went on to face Nazareth’s Nate Tauber and was eliminated in the second round. Hozza faced Dmytro Petrov from East Stroudsburg South and was eliminated in the first round by scores of 6-2, 6-1. Both Hozza and Nemeth had a good tournament and represented Northampton well in the district event.

Nemeth and Hozza will pair up for the District 11 doubles event which will be held at Lehigh University on May 7. The duo will be joined by Dan Fox and Nick Hudka, Northampton’s second doubles pair to qualify for the district tournament. At press time, seeding for the event is still pending.

Davis knows the team has faced tough competition before.

“It’s really hard to play against teams that play year-round,” Davis said.

But this year they far surpassed all this coach’s expectations.

“I expected us to win three games this season and we won 9,” said Davis as he explains how pleased he was with the season overall.

His one-word emphatic answer summed up Davis’ feelings about the regular season. When asked if he was happy with the results of this year he simply responded, “Absolutely!”