Newtown High School’s boys’ tennis team, this spring, welcomes Coach Shawn Tierney, who is a familiar face at NHS. Tierney also coaches boys’ golf and is a math teacher at the school.

“We have a great group of kids with some veteran captains. Fairly young team with ten underclassmen, 15 players in all. Excited about the year,” said Tierney, who is looking forward to familiarizing himself with the other teams in the South-West Conference and seeing where the Nighthawks go as things unfold.

The Nighthawks are led by captains Alex Kyprianou and Andrew Sposato, who have played all four years and are moving from doubles to third and fourth singles, respectively.

Newtown brings in experienced freshmen Aditya Singh and Frankie Cannizzo, whom Tierney anticipates will hold down the top two singles spots.

Carter Briggs, Ethan Hillefeld, and Mike Berry are returnees who will play doubles, and Oliver Clancy is a returning player who will be at No. 1 doubles but may see some time in singles matches.

Theo Anderson, Liam Conlin, George Eppers, and Michael Lawlor are all back on the team in the doubles mix, and freshmen Ryan Hislop, Cameron Linnetz, and Zach Avari join the team this spring.

Newtown opened the season Wednesday, April 5, at home against Masuk of Monroe.

Sports Editor Andy Hutchison can be reached at andyh@thebee.com.