BETHLEHEM - Down a set, they never wavered.

Staring at three match points, they never blinked.After dropping the first set, Northampton's Dominic Jackson and Andrew Hozza rallied past Pleasant Valley's Jake Ammermann and Najja Francis 2-6, 6-1, 11-9 Monday in the first round of the District 11 Class 3A doubles tournament at Lehigh University.Ammermann and Francis led 5-1, and 9-6, in the tiebreaker, but were unable to put away Jackson and Hozza."They just lost their aggressiveness out there," said Bears' head coach Mark Allison. "The other team started lobbing more. And they kinda got lulled into playing their game, instead of playing our game."I talked to them about being more aggressive, and cutting down on unforced errors ... I don't know. They just lost their aggressiveness out there."The dynamic shifted in the second set."I think we just kind of lost momentum," said Ammermann. "A couple shots went into the net. A couple shots went out. And they just started to come back."Energy is a big part of it. When you start to rally, it really helps a lot."Playing as a doubles team for just the third time, Francis and Ammermann acclimated well to playing together."I thought we played well as a unit," said Francis. "We tried to work together. We tried to communicate. But, obviously, it didn't work out in the end. We just have to hang in there, and keep going."The duo will likely get more opportunities to pair up in the future. Francis is a junior, while Ammermann is a sophomore for a Pleasant Valley squad that also qualified for team districts this season."I thought we played really well this year," said Ammermann. "We're a really young team, and we're gonna return a lot of guys next year. So I think next year is going to be a big year for us."Another pair of Times News area underclassmen will also be looking to make another run next season.Palmerton sophomore Nate Andress and junior Marc Roselli fell 6-0, 6-3 to No. 8 seed Joel Thompson and Jake Nichols of Saucon Valley in the first round of the Class 2A event."We started slow in the first set. It took us a couple of games to get into it," said Andress. "The second set, we took the first two games, then we couldn't grab any, except one at the end."They're really good. Never playing before, I thought we did pretty good."Monday marked the first time Andress and Roselli were playing together."It was a good experience playing with him, just getting to work together," said Roselli. "Hopefully we make it next year."Jim Thorpe's Matt Green and John Fedora lost 6-1, 6-3 to Allentown Central Catholic's Dario Sorrentino and Nick Patruno in the Class 2A first round."I thought we played good," said Fedora. "We had minor mistakes, which were our fault. The only reason we lost was because of us. We didn't play to our best."The moment was not lost on Green, who is still relatively new to the sport."I'm really glad I got to come out today," said Green. "This is only my second year playing tennis. This is my first time at districts, so playing with John, who's got a lot more experience playing tennis, I think it was really great."Olympians' head coach Norb Lienhard praised the progress Green has made in such a short amount of time."For only two years, he started off at No. 3 singles, then he played No. 2, and then he was up at No. 1 when Shaun (DiCostanzo) wasn't here," said Lienhard. "For playing two years, he did great. He picked it up quick."The rapid development is something Lienhard hopes Fedora, a junior, continues next year."John picked up his game in the middle of the season," Lienhard commented. "He was always doubles, and then he picked up to go to singles."John's coming back, so this was good experience for him. Get him here, get him used to it."UPSET ALERT... The Parkland team of Kishan Unjia and Jesse Hance knocked off No. 8 seed Leland Addison and Ethan Gabey of Easton 7-5, 6-4 to reach the Class 3A quarterfinals.WHAT'S NEXT?... The Class 2A and 3A quarterfinals and semifinals will take place Wednesday at Parkland High School at 1 p.m.