Defending District XI tennis champions, the Liberty Hurricanes, are returning to the courts this week to open the 2018 boys’ tennis season.

Sophomore Louis Gruber will play at number one singles, sophomore David Lynn will play at two singles, and senior Gavin Snyder will play at three singles.

Gruber is the 2017 district doubles champ, along with Dan Lynn who has since graduated.

David Lynn moves up from two doubles last year, and Snyder is also moving up from doubles.

“I like the way Gavin plays,” said Hurricane coach Leo Schnalzer. “He’s a pretty intelligent kid, and he’s smart on the court. He understands what he can and can’t do.”

Liberty’s two doubles and three doubles pairings are not definite yet, but Schnalzer is looking at Jacob Wong, Duke Jin, Marc Burritt, and Anthony Ronca. All played doubles last year except for Ronca who is a freshman.

Man Nyugen, Stephen Trempel, and Graydon Wascura are being considered for number four doubles.

Noticeably missing from the Hurricanes’ roster is singles player Jacob Berg, who is at a tennis academy in Texas this year.

“I think we’ll do OK. We should be, hopefully, one of the top four teams,” Schnalzer said. “Nazareth and Parkland should be strong. Emmaus has a nice number one singles player. Whitehall has a pretty good singles lineup.”

Last year, the Hurricanes finished the season with a 17-1 record, losing only to Conestoga in the first round of the PIAA State Team Tennis Tournament.