By STEPHEN MARTELLUCCI
NORTH READING — Mark Bisognano is back for his 24th season as head coach of the North Reading high boys’ tennis team this spring. Last year, the Hornets were edged, 3-2, at Cape Cod Academy in the first round of the MIAA Division 3 state tournament to end the year at 10-9.
In the Cape Ann League, North Reading finished 5-6 as they came in third place in the CAL Kinney Division.
Three seniors from that team graduated but only one, Jonathan Park, was a starter.
When spring practice officially opened on March 18, Bisognano welcomed back nine veterans as his roster is one of the most experienced in the CAL.
The three senior captains are Roman Ton, Aiden Patel and Ricky Ho. Ton will be playing at first singles.
The two other 12th-graders back are Alex DeWolfe and Eric Xu.
Parker Lee, Sameer Murthy and Raffi Toby are the three juniors back. Connor Abruzzese, who played as an eighth-grader last spring, is now a freshman while the only newcomer is another freshman, John Pastore.
Even though the weather was poor during the first week of tryouts, the team did practice outside.
“We have an experienced team,” said Bisognano. “So, despite the weather, it has gone pretty well and we have been well into our challenge matches.”
With the exception of Ton and Lee, Bisognano is still working on the rest of his lineup for third singles and his two doubles teams.
“Our three to eight players are pretty even,” admitted Bisognano. “We have to find out what combinations at doubles are going to work out best.”
North Reading is slated to play 15 regular-season matches with 11 CAL matches and four non-league ones.
Bisognano feels that Lynnfield, who has won the last five league titles, will be the team to beat again in the Kinney Division.
It was a solid start to the season for the Hornets on Tuesday afternoon as they blanked guest Bishop Fenwick, 5-0, in a non-league match on a cool, cloudy day.
At first singles, Ton won, 6-0, 6-0, while second-singles player, Lee, did the same.
Abruzzese won, 6-1, 7-5, at third singles.
In doubles action, the first team of Patel and Murthy won in three sets. They won the first set, 5-1, but were shut out, 6-0, in the second set. They then bounced back in the final set winning 6-2.
The second team of Ho and Toby won in straight sets, 6-0, 6-1.
“It was a good start to our year,” said Bisognano. “Roman and Parker were fantastic. It was also a good sign what Aiden and Sameer did in that third set after that second one.”
The next scheduled match for the Hornets will be on April 5 as they host Pentucket. They then visit Manchester-Essex on April 10. Both matches are slated to start at 4 p.m.