The boys tennis team is coming off a bounce-back season. They have a lot of talent going into the 2025 season. In the 2023 season, the team went 2-11, but last season, they went 9-8. The team has had standout player Abhay Anil ‘25 for the last three seasons, who has been consistently a top-ten player in the state. Up-and-coming freshman Will Feagler ‘28 will join the team this season, already ranked tenth in the state.

“I am looking forward to playing on the team, with it being my first year playing high school tennis, I will get some good new experience while hopefully winning some matches too,” Feagler said.

The new hiring of Jeff Hightshoe made a big difference last season. The team’s meet record improved from 2-11 to 9-8 in Hightshoe’s first season as head coach. According to Bound, the team is ranked ninth in the state going into this season.

“I’m looking forward to this season, especially it being my last one here. The team looks really good, the best we’ve had in a long time. We have two top-ten players in the state and we can make a really good push for team state this year. In my freshman and sophomore years, we had 2 wins as a team. Last year we improved to 9-8. This year I expect even more improvement as we have a really well-rounded team. I’m excited for one last season with the team and I’m hoping I can do well at individual state this year too,” Anil said.

Last season, Anil led the team with 12 wins at position one with only five losses. Emmett Bottorff ‘25 led the team in position two with seven wins and ten losses. Another returner for the team is Brendan Lestina ‘25, who led the team in position four with seven wins and nine losses. Their first meet of the season comes on April 5th at Cedar Falls.

“With the new addition of Will, that really adds to our game and puts us up there to be state qualifiers with the rest of the tennis powerhouses of Iowa, and we have high hopes that this could be a record season for City High boys tennis,” Lestina ‘25 said.