OREFIELD - For those participating in the first day of the District 11 Class AA tennis tournament, the goal was simple survive and advance.

Sure, some may have had different expectations than others, with a number of players entering play with championship aspirations.But in order to reach to next week's final at Lehigh University, the task was simply to get through the first two rounds on Wednesday afternoon.Unfortunately for the girls from Jim Thorpe and Tamaqua, the road to a title ended at Parkland High School, as all four players from the area schools were eliminated.Jim Thorpe's Gabbie Binder won her first round match in straight sets over Allentown Central Catholic's Olivia Luchetti. But Binder ran into sixth-seeded Kara Chyung of Moravian Academy in the second round, where she suffered a straight set loss.Despite the early exit, Binder was pleased with her showing."I expected to do well in the first round," Binder said of her win. "I thought I would be competitive in the second round, and that really was a fun match."The score doesn't really reflect how I played."But the 6-0, 6-1 loss to Chyung wasn't the result longtime Jim Thorpe coach Norb Lienhard was concerned with."She would have lost a lot of matches last year that she won this year," the coach said of Binder's progress. "She's improving in the mental aspect of the game, and I think she showed that today."That resolve was evident in Binder's 6-4, 6-2 first round win over Luchetti, a match that could have gone either way."The first set was rough," Binder said. "I thought she (Luchetti) was going to come through and win, but I was able to hold her off."Once I won that first set, my confidence really went up and I was able to just focus on hitting my shots."Tamaqua's Allison Pedersen, Maddie Dolinsky and Maddie Davis weren't as fortunate as Binder, as all three suffered straight set losses in their first round matches.Pedersen lost a hard-fought 6-4, 7-5 match to Blue Mountain's Julia Hahn, but was upbeat about her play afterwards."I think I played really well," the junior said. "It was tough, and I tried to use my consistency to my advantage."But she had a slice that was really effective and she was able to angle that well. She was able to use that against some of my serves and I just wasn't able to get to it."The performance was one that impressed Tamaqua head coach Jennel Yelito."She's a very confident player," Yelito said of Pedersen. "And she wants to win. She's the one that I know wants to win every second of every match. And that's nice to see in any athlete."Dolinsky did well to fight back against Pen Argyl's Abby Strouse before falling 6-2, 6-4.The senior admitted the stress of playing on a bigger stage might have gotten to her during the match."Overall, I was pretty happy with how I played," she said. "But I think the nerves got to me a little bit. Being in districts, I really wanted to do well."I don't think I was consistent enough at first and that was hard to come back from."Yelito was happy to see Dolinsky have one more chance to play in singles' competition as a senior."She's the only senior among the three that made it," the coach said. "She's really worked hard and it's always nice to see them make it this far during their senior year."Tamaqua's Maddie Davis lost 6-0, 6-1 to Moravian Academy's Skyler Hammond.Though the results weren't what the team was hoping for, Tamaqua has a lot to look forward to moving forward."I had a great group of girls," Yelito said. "We had a great season, going 10-7 and being over .500, which was our goal.our goal."We're looking forward to coming back for (next week's) doubles' tournament now that some of them were here and know what it's like."Jim Thorpe will also be back at Parkland next Wednesday for the start of the District 11 Class AA doubles tournament. But for now, Lienhard is going to savor the moment of this day and what it means to Binder."I know she didn't end with a victory, but that first (round) win got her into the next match, and that's what I wanted for her today," Lienhard said. "I just wanted her to go out and have fun, because this is her last time playing in singles' competition."