Bright spots highlighted the start of the boys tennis season, with Whitehall trying to score some crosscourt winners to get into the win column.

While the team dropped their first two league matches to open the season, the Zephs are looking to rebound with a good showing against Bangor Area High School later this week.

They began the season with a loss to Bethlehem Catholic High School as the Golden Hawks won 7-0.

In their match against Freedom High School last Thursday, head coach Austin Berg said the team was hampered a bit by a thinned roster due to the Science Olympiad. They dropped both No. 1 and No. 2 singles, but in their No. 3 singles match Gavin Meyers took three games against a tough opponent, Doug Leeson. He battled throughout the match, eventually losing, 6-3, and 6-1.

Berg said that Meyers was tenacious the entire match. The freshman was able to score winners, extending Leeson.

"Gavin was impressive," said Berg. "Freedom's number three player is very good. Gavin is going to turn into a great singles player, I believe. Gavin is quick and anticipates the next move. Every day he gives me 100 percent and he will continue to shine being he is only a freshman."

In their No. 2 doubles match, Max Nuscher and Dan Herrera managed to win seven games, but eventually succumbed 4-6, 3-6.

The No. 1 doubles team of Hazem Abdelaal and Rohit Gangapantulu didn't want to go gently into that good night, winning five games in a pro set match versus Bin Wang and Matt Henninger. The final result was 5-8. A pro set is an option when the match has been decided between the two schools, allowing the players to engage in a single match to determine a winner, with the first team to reach eight getting the victory.

In their No. 3 doubles match, Abdelaal and Toby Chan were able to wrest a game away from Matt Connors and Ronak Desai, finally losing 1-6, 0-6 to the Patriot tandem.

Berg already sees a team that's on its way to a reversal of fortune. He has the players who are competitive but just need to get more consistency when trying to put away an opponent.

"Our team just needs to learn how to spread the ball around and finish points," said Berg. "They are getting better and I'm hoping for continued improvement this week."