Alvirne's Peyton Meuse will once again team up with his brother Ashton to try to get the Broncos back to the Division I finals. (Telegraph file phot by TOM KING)

The high school boys tennis season begins today for some teams, and Wednesday for others.

It’s a different season than last, because now teams play other teams from around the state, rather than the regional setup that existed last year due to the pandemic, to keep teams in a tennis bubble, so to speak.

“We’re looking forward to seeing all the teams again,” said Alvirne coach Mike Coulter, whose Broncos made it all the way to the finals before falling to Bedford.

And because of that,we may get a very good read on how the local contenders measure up almost immediately.

Especially Nashua South. The Panthers, with several back from a team that lost only to Bedford last season, opens up at home against the Bulldogs, weather permitting, and then visits another top contender, Hanover next Monday. Those are their first two matches. Yikes.

“We feel we have a team that can really contend,” Panthers coach David Santerre said. “We’ll know right away, the way the schedule worked out.”

South is loaded. Returning are vastly improved Santiago Somorrostro, Abhinav Avvaru, Atul Phadke, Akhil Kammila and Shush Dubey.

Newcomers Kaushik Tadipathri, Mihir Garimella and Shreenath Mohan should help out, too.

“Our goal,” Santerre said, “is to go deep into the playoffs, with a chance to win it all.”

That may be the same goal for the Broncos who have possibly the best one-two punch around in seniors Peyton and Ashton Meuse, who led Alvirne to the state title match which resulted in a rain-shortened 5-2 loss to Bedford.

“Both are returning and looking to make a run at the state tournement,” Coulter said. “We’re going to keep an eye on Bedford and Hanover again, they’re both phenomenal programs.”

Other key Broncos are Aiden Hughes, James Dlubac, Jace Martin and Lucas Perron.

Bishop Guertin,meanwhile, has four returning from last year’s team, including senior No. 1 Dean Liakos. The other top three on the ladder are returnees as well: junior Gavin Bombara, senior Ryan Wallat, and senior Aditya Prasad, pretty much in that order.

“With their experience from last year’s competition, I’m excited and hopeful that this will prove to be a successful season,” Cards coach Tom Lizotte said.

Merrimack was rebuilding last season, but this year the Tomahawks had a huge – and we mean huge – turnout that included 14 newcomers (nine of them juniors) to go with returnees seniors Nick Croteau and Thomas Sawdey, juniors George Benoit, Brandon Nobrega and Tawan Burger, plus sophomores Trey Grant, Grant Sescheneaux and Brady Matte.

“This is the largest number of players that we’ve ever had at Merrimack,” Tomahawks coach Don Chisholm said. “We hope to improve greatly this year.”

Nashua North, which fell to South in the tourney, lost a couple of senior leaders, but may have back a junior, Shikar Gupta, who was No. 3 at the start of last season.

In Division II, Souhegan always seems to be one of those teams that can rebuild on the fly, and they did so last year in making the semis, falling to eventual champion Lebanon.

As a result, the Sabers graduated just one senior and now have a lot of experience returning for head coach John Kilgore and assistant Anthony Fernandez. And a lot of players as 17 fill up the roster, nine of them seniors.

Returning players are seniors Joshua Goddard and James Zeolie and sophomore Ryan Fernandez to formulate the top three, not necessarily in that order.

Newbies include sophomore Sam Bartle and freshman Owen Van Hooser, challenging Matthew Yates and Andrew Rosse for the bottom three spots on the ladder.

“The top half of the ladder is all set,” Kilgore said. “We will win or lose based on how well the bottom of our ladder plays. We’re looking to have a stronger group of doubles teams this season.”

Hollis Brookline’s run as a title contender ended a couple of years ago (two straight finals appearances), but the Cavalier might have some players to build on off last season.

On the team last year were Cooper Adair and Hayden Smith, plus younger players Jason Babcock Bryson Giersch and Simar Sidhu. If they have all retuned – repeated requests for team info failed – then the Cavs could have some experience.

As for the division, Lebanon and Portsmouth are the favorites once again. Souhegan sees them both in May.

“We’re happy that we’ll play a full schedule of matches this season,” Kilgore said. “It’s been good weather so far, we’re getting a little more practice time preseason this year.”

And now it’s time for the real deal. The Cavaliers open Tuesday at Windham; Souhegan is set to host Sanborn at Camp Young Judea on Wednesday.