The Hotchkiss Boys Varsity Tennis Team, led by Head Coach Edgar Giffenig and Assistant Coach Josh Smith, recently secured a second-place finish at the Kingswood-Oxford Invitational Tennis Tournament (KITT).

KITT was a two-day tournament held on April 1-2 at the Kingswood-Oxford School, featuring eight teams from the strongest tennis teams in the area. The school placed second, tied with Westminster, while Groton placed first.

The tournament consisted of six brackets, including two doubles and four singles, with each team bringing four players. The school’s players included captain Jared Leong ’23, Matias Acevedo ’24, Sahil Annamaneni ’24, and Yury Tsibikov ’26.

Acevedo, a third-year Varsity Tennis player, said “[The team] made the number one doubles final, then Sahil and I both made our finals for our individual draws.” Although team members reached three finals, they were unable to secure any titles.

Coach Smith is optimistic about the team’s second-place result. Despite not reaching the ultimate goal of winning the tournament, Coach Smith said, “People played hard overall and they gave it a good effort.”

Looking ahead to the remainder of the season, Acevedo said, “If the team really gets together and delivers the performances we know we can, we can make the playoffs once again.” The team has shown to be strong in their singles matches throughout the season and at the tournament. However, Coach Smith said, “We need to come together better as a team in terms of the doubles.”

This recent tie for 2nd place out of 8 teams in the KITT Tennis Tournament shows potential for the upcoming season. Coach Smith said, “We are learning how to compete at a higher level.”