Freedom senior Noah Rodburg won the silver medal at the District XI Boys Singles Tennis Tournament on April 23 at Lehigh University.

“It means a lot,” Rodburg said. “I worked really hard over the summer. I was playing third doubles my freshman year on the Freedom team, so I’ve come a long way. It feels good.”

Rodburg’s first match resulted in a 6-1, 6-1 victory over Parkland’s Kevin Yao.

Rodburg faced another Parkland player, Manav Patel, for a 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 victory.

In the semifinal, Rodburg defeated the defending district singles champion, Emmaus’s Chris Stone, 7-6 (9-7), 6-0.

“I think I played good in the big points, the deuce points, where they mattered,” Rodburg said. “I had a nervous start to it. I think I was down a break for the majority of the set until 6-5. I was a little bit nervous and wasn’t hitting the ball super clean, but I managed to pull through in the tiebreak.”

Rodburg and Stone’s first set lasted 1 hour, 40 minutes, pushing the district final match more than an hour later than expected.

Parkland’s Derek Yao defeated Nazareth’s Gideon Knowles, 6-4, 6-1, in the other semifinal, and although

Rodburg was given a 30-minute break, the Patriot senior would have preferred more time.

“Physically, I wasn’t 100 percent, but it’s not an excuse,” said Rodburg, regarding the 4-6, 2-6 loss to Yao in the final. “I thought I played well. I thought I’ve played better in my life. Derek played an awesome match, very solid. He just played better than me today. Derek is super consistent. He doesn’t miss at all. He keeps the ball really deep.”

Freedom coach Matt Potts advised Rodburg to play a little more aggressive.

“He told me to tighten up the errors,” said Rodburg. “The match came down to a couple of poor games from me and a couple of really good ones from Derek.”

Coach Potts presented the silver medal to Rodburg after the match, congratulating both players and expressing his pride in Rodburg as a player and a young man.

Freedom assistant coach Javier Avila continued the sentiment.

“He’s a wonderful human being,” Avila said. “He is very generous with all his teammates. He will hit with any of the kids on the team and help them with great patience. He’s competitive, but he’s not arrogant. He’s a humble young man. That’s winning in life.”

Rodburg will compete in the District XI Boys Doubles Tennis Tournament this week, and Avila explained Rodburg’s success this year.

“His ability to build a point very intelligently and to come forward once he sees any short ball,” Avila said. “If it’s a very fast player, he goes behind them, and if it’s a player that’s having trouble, he goes the other way. He always has that answer.”