The boys’ tennis season kicked off this spring, with a team of 20 returning players and only six new players.

Last year, the boys qualified two doubles teams for state, and Northwest’s number one team placed 10th in the state tournament. Senior Calvin Garland, the number one singles player, returns to hopefully qualify for state in singles.

The team, led by senior captains Hunter Holman and Arjun Kumar, finished their tryouts about two weeks ago, and the team is looking better than last year. At tryouts, 28 students showed up, hoping to make the tennis team. Two were cut, and the other 26 filled this year’s roster.

“This season we have very high expectations,” Holman said. “I think towards the end of the season we will be very strong and hopefully place in the top 3 at league and regionals.”

Two freshmen who tried out this spring, Sam Gay and Nate Sterns, played exceptionally at tryouts for freshmen, according to Kumar. At the SM East match, both athletes won both their singles and doubles matches.

On March 23, the varsity team played the Lancers at home while the JV team faced off at East. Varsity won their matches 10-2 while the JV won 16-1.

“ is our toughest competition for the entire season,” Kumar said. “However, we still expect that we could beat them.”