The East Penn Conference boys’ tennis season was slated to have begun on March 11, weather permitting.

Liberty’s courts were clear of snow as of March 10, and Hurricane coach Chris Conrad expects that other schools’ courts are also clear since Liberty is one of the last courts to dry.

In the meantime, the Hurricanes had an opportunity to get some matches under their belts along with players from Parkland and Muhlenberg High Schools on March 9 at a junior team tennis event sponsored by the USTA.

“I was really able to start to see the work we put in from voluntary practices in January and February. They stepped up; it was their first opportunity to play for points,” said Conrad. “Louis Gruber will be one of the top players in the conference, and David Lynn will be up there as well.”

Gruber returns to number one singles from last season, and Lynn returns to number two singles.

Conrad said he has three high-quality guys for the number three singles spot, so there will be some rotating, especially with no challenge matches having been played yet.

Jacob Wong is currently in the three singles position. Anthony Ronca and Wyatt Marshall are also possibilities, and were at two doubles for Monday’s match against Whitehall.

“Anthony played singles on Saturday because David [Lynn] wasn’t there, and he played very well,” Conrad said. “Wyatt [Marshall] is splitting his time between playing tennis and JV baseball.”

Freshmen Shayaan Farhad and Gavin Evans-Gartley are at three doubles.

Four doubles will also see some rotating, but Aidan Evans-Gartley and Raj Kandu were in the lineup for Monday’s match.

“We have some good players and a lot of players of similar quality,” said Conrad. “Whitehall has a nice team, so I’ll get a good feel for how we’ll do in the conference and the district. Unfortunately, we go right into Nazareth and Emmaus next.”