HELLERTOWN ­- Jim Thorpe senior Christy McLean was eliminated in the opening round of the District 11 Class 2A tennis tournament on Monday at Saucon Valley High School.

Moravian Academy’s Isabella Bartolacci defeated McLean, 6-1, 6-1.

Bartolacci is the defending District 11 champion and was the No. 2 seed for this year’s tourney.

“It was an extremely difficult draw for Christy,” said Jim Thorpe tennis coach Norb Lienhard. “The girl she played was really good. She has all the shots, and displayed them today.

“But I thought Christy did a nice job. She played well. She won a couple games and battled to extend some points.”

In the end, Bartolacci proved to be too talented, however.

“Christy served the ball well, but she had a hard time taking advantage of it, because Bartolacci had a really nice backhand slice,” Lienhard said. “She won a lot of points with short slices that Christy just couldn’t reach.”

Despite the straight set defeat, Lienhard said he saw a number of things he liked from McLean, who has a 6-5 record as the Olympians’ No. 1 singles player this season.

”I don’t think the score tells the whole story,” said Lienhard. “There were some longer points that Christy eventually lost. I thought she did a nice job of making Bartolacci work to get the win.”

DISTRICT VETERAN ... One thing Lienhard wasn’t worried about entering the match was that McLean would be nervous or distracted by the big stage or pressure of districts. This was McLean’s fourth straight year competing in the D-11 singles tournament. She also competed in the district doubles tournament the last two seasons, and Lienhard is hoping that when the seedings are released next week for that tournament, McLean will be part of that field.

“Christy is definitely a veteran when it comes to districts,” said Lienhard.

THE ONE AND ONLY ... With the district field cut from 32 to 16 players this year, the Olympians only got one girl in the bracket. Neither Tamaqua (Class 2A) or Pleasant Valley (Class 3A) were represented.

STILL PLAYING ... McLean and the Olympians still have a regular season match remaining with Pen Argyl. Lienhard said it appears the Olympians are locked into the sixth seed for the District 11 team tournament, which opens next week. The District 11 doubles tournament will be the following week.