Freedom’s No. 2 doubles tennis players Manny Suarez and Jonah Rodburg kept the Patriots in their match against Allentown Central Catholic setting up a showdown at No. 1 doubles that clinched the overall match for the Pates, 4-3.

Suarez and Rodburg tied the match, 3-3, after defeating Aryaan Chauhan and Alex Germick, 6-4, 4-6, 7-5.

“They were really good at the net,” said Suarez of the Vikings. “They didn’t miss too many of their volleys, and they were definitely hitting their serves pretty well, so they made it really tough. But there were those little moments of a really good volley or a really good serve that would pick you back up and you’d keep going with that momentum.”

In the second set, the Pates found themselves down, 0-3.

“They were playing better, and we kind of lost it after that first game, but then I got my serve in on that second game, and that momentum carried for a little bit, and then it was head-to-head, and we lost it, and that finished Set 2,” said Rodburg. “Third set was a battle for perseverance.”

Rodburg added that the Pates’ consistency and powerful serves, as well as their ability to stay positive presented challenges for the Vikings.

“As silly as [positivity] sounds, it’s really just something else,” Rodburg said. “Like, [Manny’s] the one who’s always keeping me up and is just like, hey man, it’s all right...”

In the last match of the day, Freedom’s No. 1 doubles team of Noah Rodburg and Eric Wu broke the team tie, defeating Matt Keenan and Tommy Spinosa, 6-2, 6-0.

Earlier, Rodburg had won his match against Keenan at No. 1 singles, 6-0, 6-0, and Wu won against Spinosa at No. 2 singles, 7-6, 6-3.

Said Rodburg, “I think mentally, I’m a little bit tougher, definitely hitting the ball a lot better, so I feel like I’ve improved a lot. I’m definitely looking forward to EPCs (East Penn Conference Tournament) and the postseason, and a couple matches like Parkland, Emmaus, and Nazareth, and just challenging myself this year.”

Winning their matches for the Vikings were Thomas Dzik over Oscar Avila at No. 3 singles, 7-5, 7-5, Zach Abbadesa and Thomas Rutt over Aidan Hugo and Henri Houle at No. 3 doubles, 6-1, 6-3, and Matthew Wheeler and Ben Ralston over Aidan Cabrera and Michael Sloma at No. 4 doubles, 6-2, 6-0.

“Pretty early on, it became apparent what the critical matches were going to be,” said Freedom coach Matt Potts. “Central’s always had really good doubles, and at three and four doubles, they pretty much controlled us, so I figured it was gonna be third singles and probably second doubles- that it would come down to those matches, and we split them.”

Since District XI adopted the Coaching on the Fly rule beginning with the boys tennis season, Potts was able to coach his players directly on the tennis court, no longer required to stand behind the chainlink fence that surrounds most high school courts.

“It’s not so much that we can do more, it’s just that we can do it more often. I can literally coach every point, but it’s more like settling kids down between the points, or just to remind them. I get nervous with Coaching on the Fly that you start overcoaching. I don’t think it’s good to get on a kid for every point,” Potts said. “I do (prefer it), especially because we have a lot of kids who haven’t played a lot, so when they’re playing doubles, just to get them in the right position, stuff like that has helped, so I do like it better.”