On April 5 and 6, Boys Varsity Tennis, accompanied by Head Coach Edgar Giffenig and Assistant Coach Josh Smith, traveled to the annual Kingswood-Oxford Invitational Tennis Tournament (KITT).

Hotchkiss placed fifth in the two- day tournament, after competing against Groton, Deerfield, Lawrenceville, Choate,   Hall High  School, Westminster, and Kingswood Oxford.

The school brought six Varsity players to the tournament: Yury Tsibikov ’26 (1st singles), Jai Rizvi ’26 (2nd singles), Zach Chen ’28 (3rd singles), Nate Reif ’27 (4th singles), and two doubles pairs: Tsibikov and Julian Brown ’25 (1st doubles) and Rizvi and Jackson Grace ’26 (2nd doubles).

Although the boys did not advance to the finals in the main draw, they found success in the consolation rounds.

A standout moment came on the second day of the tournament, when Rizvi secured a victory in his singles consolation match. Coach Giffenig said, “I was really happy with how Jai bounced back. He played three singles  and  one  doubles  match on  Sunday  and  competed  hard throughout.”

In doubles, Tsibikov and Brown triumphed  in  their  consolation match,  while  Rizvi  and  Grace made it to the consolation finals.

Co-captain Brown said,  “The tournament was a great learning experience and opportunity to build team  chemistry  and  prepare  for future matches. Yury and I learned from our mistakes in the first round on Sunday and shook off the nerves. We were active and aggressive at the net and won the critical points at deuce. I think it was the best doubles  match  Yury and I have played together.”

Coach Giffenig said, “We want to be one of those teams that never gives up—where other schools say, ‘Those Hotchkiss guys always fight.’ That’s the identity we’re working toward.”

Following the KITT tournament, the team hosted Taft on April 9, winning 7–0.

Looking forward, the team’s next major tournament is the Southern New  England  Tennis  League (SNETL) tournament on May 10 at Taft.