For the second straight year, the Biglerville High duo of Tricia Motter and Ale Heller earned a spot in the District 3 Girls doubles tennis tournament Wednesday afternoon at South Western High School.

This year's berth may give the Lady Canners a bit less stress after earning an automatic bid for finishing third in the Class AA bracket.

Motter and Heller lost their semifinal matchup 6-1, 6-4 against York Suburban's Katie Woodbury and Amanda Blyth.

"We beat York Suburban before. I guess we went in thinking we were going to do well," said Ale Heller.

"It was more mental than physical," Motter added.

The Biglerville pair was down, but not out, knowing the winner of the consolation matchup against fourth-seeded Jenny Yealy and Ellen Noel of Delone Catholic would qualify for districts.

"We didn't have to work our hardest yesterday, and I was concerned, coming in that because we didn't work our hardest, that it was going to show up in the match," said Biglerville coach Chris Heller.

Losing the consolation match would mean a fourth-place finish and an at-large seed. Only the top three doubles partners would be guaranteed spots in the district tournament.

Facing the must-win scenario, Motter and Heller came out victorious over the Delone duo, 6-1, 6-3.

"I think Delone Catholic was kind of tired from playing York Catholic," Ale Heller said.

"Their first set against number-one York Catholic was 4-6, and I think they let that

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get to their head," Motter said.

Motter and Heller have some time before next Tuesday's district tournament to practice their doubles play. The two plan to scrimmage against Biglerville's top boys tennis players to get ready.

"I'm excited. We are probably going to have to play one of the really good teams, though," Motter said.

In the Class AAA bracket, South Western's Natalie Greenholt and Kelsey Utz finished in fourth place.

The Lady Mustang pair was the last Hanover area representative alive in the Class AAA bracket.

The rules for AA and AAA are the same, meaning the fourth-place finish earned the duo an at-large spot in the district tournament.

Greenholt and Utz fell to Dallastown's Melissa Plowman and Ashley Reeder, 6-1, 6-0 before facing West York's Megan Blair and Andrea Mummert.

The South Western pair kept it close, but ultimately lost 6-4, 7-5.

Contact Sam Latter at slatter@eveningsun.com.