Whether it’s the spark of a new season or a spark from the new facility, the Lake Washington High boys tennis team has begun the fall season with a bang.

The team officially opened new tennis courts, the first new courts in 50 years, coach Jim Waters said, on Thursday, Sept. 8 with a 5-2 win over Eastlake.

The next day, Lake Washington swept the Rebels, 7-0, at Juanita High School, before losing 5-2 to Interlake on Sept. 12.

The team features just three seniors on varsity, Chris Gould, Sonny Lim and Patrick Roller, but many of the team’s top players are underclassmen.

The No. 1 singles player, Shubhu Purohit, has yet to play for academic reasons, but was among the team’s leaders last fall as a freshman.

Sophomore Alex Levine has stepped into the No. 1 spot for the time being, and has performed well. Levine edged Eastlake’s top singles player, Liam Bigbee, 6-0, 6-7 (5-7), 6-4 and swept Juanita’s Nick Lammers 6-0, 6-2.

Ricky Koishida moved into the No. 2 role, winning in three sets against Eastlake’s Colin James and beating Juanita’s Spencer Nokes 6-1, 6-1.

Gould has been the No. 3 singles player, and Daniel Khorrami has moved up into the No. 4 role.

Roller and Lim have set up as the No. 1 doubles pairing, losing to Eastlake and winning a close match against Juanita’s Keegan Decker and Anuj Ankit, 7-5, 6-4. Jason Tipp and Moses Jung won their first two matches as the second doubles team, as have Logan Adler and Avery Dailidenas.