Nashua North's Connor McInerney focuses on a return during last season's final match. He'll be back with some other key players for the Titans this sesson. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

The NHIAA tennis season waits for no one, not even Mother Nature.

Thus things are set to get underway this week for both boys and girls in what, as usual, isn’t exactly tennis weather.

Today there might be only one match played, and that’s because it’s indoors at Longfellow Tennis Club in Nashua, the home of the Hollis Brookline boys, coached by Celestino Eddi Sepulveda III as they host Alvirne at 4 p.m.

The Cavs are one of a few local teams that had some success last season; this year there’s a bit of a change as Merrimack and Alvirne have dropped down to Division II, where Hollis Brookline, Milford and Souhegan always reside. That leaves Nashua North and South plus Bishop Guertin in Division I.

“We did drop based on current enrollment at the school,” Broncos coach Colin Stone said, “so (his players) hope that will benefit them.”

As for coaching, Nashua North has a new mentor in Andy Dutton, who teaches at the school and has an extensive competitive background in the sport. He will be in charge of both the boys and the girls, and will travel with both teams while North Athletics Coordinator Mike Soucy handles the home matches for both.

Here’s a look at how the local high school boys teams shape up:

DIVISION I

Dutton takes over a Titans program that just missed making the the tournament on the final day to play.

The Titans have a host of returning seniors in Jack Desjardins, Navien Sribalaharan, Jeet Panchal, Domingo Reynoso, and Anthony Gutierre. Junior Connnor McInrney and sophomore Evan Linscott will also be keys.

“The individuals are going to work hard to improve and have a great season,” Dutton said.

South made the tourney last year and lost a close quarterfinal match to Exeter, and lost just two of their top 10, and get this – a total of 37 players in the program, which has to be an all-time high.

Keys include returning juniors Shrey Shah, Nikhil Shokeen and Jerry Primo, plus two freshmen, Yuvan Balagurumoorthy and Hal Newbold. Raghav Buddhineni is also back.

“It’s always a stacked division,” Panthers coach Brice Miller said, “but we think we can be competitive with most of the teams on our schedule and our goal is to host a home playoff match come May.”

Two years ago Guertin coach Tom Lizotte had most of his team back, and they made the finals. Well, he has all his ladder returning, led by potential top three Jack Kostansek and Evan Deyak (sophomores) and junior Max Moynihan. And Lizotte said there’s plenty of competition in the other three spots as they jockey for position.

“The season will be interesting,” he said. “I’m hopeful that they spent some time improving their skills over the summer, and so far they look good.”

Sam Anthony is back to try to lead Hollis Brookline back to the state tournament. (Telegraph file photo by TOM KING)

DIVISION II

Hollis Brookline is back with 11 returnees from a team that made the semifinals last spring. Juniors Arjun Inakollu and Sam Anthony, a formidable doubles team, are back; Inakollu was between No. 1 and 2 on the singles ladder last year and Anthony will likely join the singles lineup this year. Former No. 3 John Torpey, also a junior, will likely lead the lineup. Senior Ronan Finnegan will also be a key.

The Cavs are hungry after their visit to the semis. “Our returning players have their eyes on the title,” Sepulveda III said, “and the opportunity to hang their first banner at HB.”

Can Souhegan ruin those plans? They have four from last year’s ladder back and as longtime coach John Kilgore said, the Sabers are “looking forward to a great year, hoping to be playing at our best for playoffs again this season.”

The key returnees include No. 1 sophomore Brian Goddard, Nos. 2 and 3 Balthazar Glover (senior) and Parker Schade (junior), and sophomore Patrick Bryson moves up from No. 6 to No. 4.

Four underclassmen are currently competing for those final two ladder spots.

“The difference between a good year and a ‘great’ year will be determined by how the 5-6 players progress during the season,” Kilgore said.

Keep an eye on Alvirne as well as the Broncos went 7-7 last year before losing to Dover in the Division I first round. They have four returning from last year’s top six in the singles ladder: junior Sam Hergenhahn (possible No. 1), senor Owen Suprenant, senior Sean Mendes, and sophomore Samanyu Kudikala.

Suprenant and Hergenhahn form a tough duo in doubles.

“The goal is to make the state tournament at a minimum,” Stone said. “They’ve been working hard in practice.”

Merrimack has eight returnees as it works to get back to when it made the tourney two years ago. Sophomores Mikhail Agapov, Jeremy Nigen and Leon Rossman are players to watch with leadership coming from seniors Wayne Alexander and Lucas Goldberg.

“We’re hoping to continue to develop both individually and as a team,” Tomahawks coach Ryan Farnsworth said.

Then there’s Year Two of the Milford Return. Back as a program after a long absence last year, the Spartans are ready to take the next step.

“Milford tennis is alive and well,” coach Kate Emerson said, with eight players returning plus three newbies.

Sophomores Will Emerson and Brady O’Connor, plus senior Javier Goodwin are back. The key is many of the Spartan players learned the game almost from scratch last year, but will be more seasoned this year.

“While our team is young, I expect to be more competitive in matches this year from the get-go,” Emerson said. “All but one of these players were new to the game (last year) and very few knew the rules or how to keep score. This year we’e jumping right into technique, decision making and mental toughness.

“I expect tremendous improvement from this group compared to last season.”

Incidentally, the Spartans will be playing their home matches at the Wilton-Lyndeborough High School courts as the Keyes Field courts get resurfaced. Ironically, WLC still does not have a boys team, and this will be the second year with no girls team as well.