Liberty’s girls’ tennis team fought through three three-set matches and four tiebreaks, but Emmaus prevailed over the Hurricanes, 5-2, on Saturday at Liberty.

“The tiebreaks are not fun, but they kept hitting us in the same spot, and we knew it, and we couldn’t run fast enough to get the points but we ended up pulling it together,” said Gabby Palermo who won her match with partner Shivani Patel at four doubles, 7-6, 7-6. “There was one girl who didn’t have as much power, so we kind of aimed it for her but it was mainly the net person who was the better girl, and we kept hitting it to her and she kept slamming us down the center.”

That’s when the Liberty coaches noticed and told the pair to aim away from her.

“Coach Leo [Schnalzer] told us what to focus on, and for me, I should focus on my forehands because my backhands are weaker,” said Patel. “Coach Conrad told us to be consistent and that definitely helped us. [Winning] that makes us very happy because they were tough.”

Emily Masters and Jess Long also won for the Hurricanes at number one doubles, 8-4.

At one singles, Paige Simons lost in three sets, 2-6, 6-4, 6-7, Angie Ronca lost at two singles, 0-6, 2-6, and Julia Zheng lost at three singles, 2-6, 6-3, 5-7.

At two doubles, Braden Drake and Margeaux Donchez lost their match, 3-6, 3-6, and Regan Gunn and Sophie Carpenter lost in three sets at three doubles, 3-6, 7-6, 3-6.

The Hurricanes are 8-5 and have already improved their record from last year.