The boy’s tennis team started practice Feb. 29. This year, there are 22 boys out for tennis. Six senior varsity players are bringing back some experience to the team: Kolton Alloway, John Andra, Jed Chitwood, Justin Haist, Derek Pauly and Denver Sones. Tim Berntsen, Chase Bevan, Brenden May, Zach Mercer, Dominic Pauly and Travis Willson are the six incoming freshman.

“I’m excited for tennis this year,” May said. “It's fun because it's something I enjoy and am good at.”

Last year, the JV team was the league champions, and varsity was the regional champions. There were four state qualifiers last year: seniors Chitwood and Pauly and juniors Lucas Mies and Jacob Winter.

“I’m looking forward to competing and doing better at state,” Derek said.

Practices include technique drills, tactical drills, and drills that simulate match play.

“I expect to see everyone  working hard, to see each player improve, and to see everyone competing at the highest level of 3-2-1A tennis,” head coach Chris Bellar said.

The first JV meet will be on March 29 at Pratt, and the first varsity meet will be a home meet on March 31.

“We should do well this year,” Derek said. “We have a lot of varsity coming back from last year.”