OREFIELD - Lehighton head coach Dave Sherry was optimistic before the District 11 Class AA doubles tennis tournament.

And why wouldn't he be? Though unseeded, Sherry knew the experienced duo of Tegan Durishin and Josh Knappenberger had a chance to make noise after teaming up for the event in each of the last two years. After getting bounced in the second round both times, the seniors made sure this stay would last a little longer.Following a 6-2, 6-1 first round victory over Jim Thorpe's Luke Carter and Chris Widdicombe, Durishin and Knappenberger moved into the quarterfinals with a gritty 3-6, 6-1, 5-2 (retired) win over No. 6 seed Ben Ney and Connor McCaw of Blue Mountain."I had a good feeling about today, actually," Sherry said afterward. "I was just thinking, these guys are pretty tough; and they're resilient - they just keep hanging in there, and hanging in there."They were hitting hard, and they were hitting well. If you can get a couple of mistakes (from Ney and McCaw) you might be able to get in there a little bit, mentally."Despite dropping the first set, Durishin and Knappenberger never lost confidence, using their athleticism to cover the court and get to nearly every ball Ney and McCaw hit their way."I think we got off to a rusty start in terms of movement and footwork," Knappenberger said. "But as we started playing, they hit solid shots and so did we, so us being able to move around more than them really helped us out and allowed us to win some games."Both are multisport athletes, and it showed, as Durishin and Knappenberger seemed to wear down Ney and McCaw both mentally and physically."Conditioning was a big factor," added Durishin. "We lost the first one, but we were able to push it until the end and win the next two sets. So it was definitely helpful."While conditioning proved to be a deciding factor for Durishin and Knappenberger, so too was confidence, and poise."I felt like we were really in a groove and we weren't about to get out of it anytime soon," Knappenberger said of taking the second set and seizing momentum in the match."Josh kept getting his serves in and that was dominating the match," added Durishin. "We kept picking up momentum and taking theirs away. We kind of knew what they were doing and how they played, and we were able to take advantage of that."What lies ahead is a meeting with No. 3 seed Oliver Scott and Abbhi Sekar of Moravian Academy in Wednesday's quarterfinals.But for now, the two are happy to simply enjoy the moment."I can't remember the last time a team from Lehighton made it to the second day," Durishin said of advancing. "So just that is a great accomplishment."While Durishin and Knappenberger were the only pair from the Times News coverage area to advance to the quarterfinals, the tournament offered three teams from Palmerton, along with Carter and Widdicombe, one more chance to play alongside the district's best.The Bombers' Jacob Brown and Marc Roselli advanced to the second round with a thrilling 6-7 (8-10), 7-6 (7-4), 10-5 victory over Notre Dame Green Pond's Sam MacDonald and Kyle Snyder in a first-round match that lasted roughly two hours.MacDonald and Snyder were familiar foes for Brown and Roselli, as the teams split their two regular-season matches, with the Palmerton duo winning the most recent meeting 6-4, 6-4 on April 20."To play them for a third time was awesome," Brown said. "They're very respectful, very talented kids, but we went into it with a positive mindset and we came out on top."We were down (after) the first set, but came back and took the second one and won that (match) tiebreaker. It was great."Brown and Roselli were eliminated after a 6-1, 6-0 loss to the fourth-seeded team of Srini Laliwala and Aaron Gardiner of Saucon Valley."It was great playing with him this season and in his last game," Roselli said of teaming with Brown, a senior. "We worked hard all year and had a lot of fun."Roselli and Brown were the only Palmerton team to advance to the second round. Sal Melo and Seth Andress suffered a 7-6 (10-8), 6-1 loss to Blue Mountain's Kyle Rich and Bryce Weizer in the first round, while Logan Miller and Jordan Dopsovic fell 6-2, 6-1 to Bethlehem Catholic's David Napierkowski and Andrew Kaeser."I didn't know what to expect coming into this one, but I think all things considered, we played them pretty well," Andress said of the match against Rich and Weizer. "They were a strong team this year, and to put up that kind of fight against them was pretty impressive."Also extraordinary was that the Bombers had three doubles teams in the tournament, a testament to what the program has accomplished this season."We probably had our best year ever at Palmerton this season, team-wise and in terms of individual accomplishments," head coach Alex Knoll said. "And it was nice to get three teams here. For some, it was an accomplishment to be here, but for Marc and Jake, I really thought winning (the first round match) put an exclamation point on the entire season for them."Though Carter and Widdicombe were unable to cap their careers with a win in the district tournament, the pair took great pride in how far they've come since beginning their careers at Jim Thorpe."I feel like I've improved a lot over the years," said Widdicombe."I improved more this season than I did in other seasons because I was really able to play a lot," added Carter. "It was good. I thought it was a really good season."MARK IT DOWN … Wednesday's Class AA and AAA quarterfinals and semifinals will now take place at Parkland at 1 p.m. Both rounds were originally scheduled to take place at Saucon Valley.