BETHLEHEM If Northwestern had wanted to start a tennis team, four years ago would have been a good time to start. They would have at least had Henry Paiste to build around and would already have gathered four individual Class AA singles titles because of Paiste.

With Monday's 7-5, 6-2 win over Moravian Academy's Zach Shaff at Lehigh University, Paiste picked up his fourth straight District 11 Singles Championship one that he believes is special."I think it's tied with my tenth grade year. I don't play regular season high school tennis, so any year that I can go through the tournament without dropping a set is special to me, so I'd say that this and my tenth grade year are very special to me," explained Paiste. "I think I really played dominant tennis this year. I had some adversity in my semi-final and today, being down 2-5 in the first, but I'd say those two years match pretty evenly for me."Shaff came out strong, but Paiste battled back and used a powerful serve to help him rally from a 5-2 deficit to win the first set.Shaff again seemed determined to bounce back and had the second set tied 2-2 before Paiste seemed to find a higher gear. By the end of the second set, Paiste was easily in control and methodically worked his way to the straight sets win over the tournament's No. 2 seed.Besides winning the final four games of the second set, Paiste won the final 11 points of the match, primarily because of a strong serve that seemed to get stronger as the match went on. Shaff was unable to successfully return any of Paiste's final seven serves in the match.The win makes Paiste the only boys player to have won four straight individual titles in District 11. The only other player to win four consecutive titles was Central Catholic's Sheila O'Donnell, who accomplished the feat from 1979-1982.Since winning his third title last year, Paiste hasn't allowed himself to think about getting four straight, choosing instead to take a different view of this year's tournament."I can't believe it right now. You don't come into high school tennis thinking you're going to win four in a row, so I'm just grateful for the opportunity; it means the world to me," said Paiste. "For me, it was just focusing on one at a time, so this year, I told all of my friends and family, 'I'm not playing for four in a row, I'm playing for one.'"It was going to be three for me and then whatever happened this year and I wanted to take it one tournament at a time and see what happens from there."Ironically, Paiste gave credit to Freedom High School's Andrew Sinai, the District 11 Class AAA champion, for helping him to accomplish his streak of four titles in a row. Sinai won his second straight title with a straight sets win over Emmaus' Matt FitzMaurice.Sinai and Paiste are good friends and have battled each other in non-district tournaments, while supporting each other against other opponents."I always go to his match to cheer him on and we're best buds. Thanks to him, because he keeps me on top of my game. I think we're 2-2 against each other right now, so we're pretty even. He beat me in the last tournament 6-4 in the third, the stinking kid," joked Paiste. "I just love the kid and I wouldn't be here without him today."Overall, Paiste is an incredible 234-48 in District 11 Tournament games during his high school career. He's also dropped just two sets during that time, both coming in championship matches. During his freshman season in 2011, he dropped the opening set to Moravian Academy's Andrew Ma before coming back to win the next two sets and his first gold medal. A year ago, Paiste dropped the opening set of to Shaff before once again rallying for the vitory.Next up for Paiste is another trip to the PIAA Tournament in Hershey. Last year, Paiste made it to the semifinals before being ousted from the tournament and he believes he's an even stronger player this year and has an important part of his game at its strongest, giving him a good chance for gold."I think I'm serving some of the best tennis of my life right now," said Paiste. "I'm really just teeing off on my serve and getting some free points and opening up the court. I'm just hoping that I can serve well, the courts in Hershey play fast, so I think if I serve well, I'll do just fine."