Last season, the Emmaus boys tennis team finished 11-5 overall and fourth in the Lehigh Valley Conference with an 8-3 record. Three seniors graduated from that team, but there are some younger players looking to compete at a high level for Emmaus this season.

Rowan Hobson, who was an LVC All-Star last season, returns to give the team a solid player in the top singles spot. At the number two singles spot, freshman Matt FitzMaurice joins the team and was impressive in his first match, downing East Stroudsburg South's Kazuki Mollenthiel 10-1 as the Hornets picked up a win in their opening match of the season, beating the Cavaliers 6-1 and sweeping all of the singles matches.

Hobson picked up a 10-7 win in the top singles match and R.J. Dave completed the sweep with a 10-1 win in his match. In doubles matches, Justin Ke and Derek Tannous lost an 8-4 decision, but the Hornets rebounded and picked up easy wins in the three other doubles battles.

In addition to the team of Ke and Tannous, the Emmaus doubles teams are comprised of Mike Hensler and Ryan Jaeger, who shut out their opponents from East Stroudsburg South in the number two doubles match. Kevin Fine and Kyle Jaeger are the team's number three doubles tandem and Sanket Narayana teams with Maneesha Weerakkody form the final doubles team.

While the team lost just three seniors to graduation, this year's team is heavy in seniors and they're strong enough that they could make a run at a higher finish in the LVC. Last season, the Hornets finished behind Parkland (11-0), Freedom (10-1) and Central Catholic (9-2) in a tightly-contested league.

Emmaus is scheduled to have its first showdown with Freedom Thursday at home, but won't face Parkland until early April and they don't get a shot at Central Catholic until late April.

In district play, last year's team picked up a first-round win over Pleasant Valley, but lost to Parkland 5-0 in the semifinals.