While the number of athletes competing remained roughly the same this season, the Pella Christian boys tennis program is continuing to see growth.

Eagles head coach Aaron Fitzgerald brought boys tennis back to the school four years ago following a nine-year hiatus. Since the program restarted during the 2020-2021 school year, Pella Christian has an individual state qualifier and have posted winning records each of the last three seasons. Fitzgerald says that having multiple athletes return each of the past few years has helped the program progress and adds that he expects that to continue this spring.

“We’re starting to see these guys develop the skills that it takes to compete at higher levels and to win some of those more challenging matches. And I think throughout the season, we’re just gonna continue to see that become a thing, where the guys are just being super coachable, they’re taking the instruction that I’m giving them, and they’re applying it immediately. And I think that’s just a product of the continual growth that we’ve seen, not just in numbers, but in the skill and the ability of our athletes.”

The Eagles open their season on Tuesday, hosting Grinnell for a 4 pm match.