Four years ago, Casey Couser was not sure what he had gotten himself into.
Couser became the head coach of a brand-new high school sports program at Nevada. The Cubs were starting up boys tennis in the spring of 2023.
The sport had gained enough interest from students to begin the program. But there was a problem.
He had no experience coaching the sport and, even though students were clearly interested, not many of them had spent a lot of time playing tennis.
Finding the athletes to get boys tennis off the ground was not going to be an easy task.
“I didn’t know how to build a team, how to build a culture, how to host an event…I didn’t know anything,” Couser said. “I had never been to a high school tennis meet before. I watched hours and hours of YouTube videos on how to be a good coach, I read books and just tried to be the best I could for them.”
To make matters worse, he was recruiting for athletes against a slew of other successful spring sports at Nevada.
Soccer has dominated the spring season in Nevada for decades. Both the Cubs’ boys and girls soccer programs have hung up a state championship banner.
Nevada has built successful track programs that pull in a lot of quality athletes. Golf has been on the upswing over the past decade, with the girls sending multiple golfers and teams to state and the boys golf program winning the 3A team state title in 2019. Last year, Parker Rodgers claimed the 3A boys golf individual crown.
“Most programs are well-established — basketball, baseball, track, soccer,” Couser said. “Nevada is a huge soccer club community. They get kids started at age 6. Tennis is something they’re not exposed to until usually two weeks before the season starts their freshman year.”
But fast forward to May of 2026, and the Cub boys tennis team is now a three-time defending North Central Conference champion after winning the conference meet yet again on May 6. Nevada also holds a perfect 9-0 meet record following a victory over South Tama County on May 7.
“For a lot of us, (it) was our first time playing tennis,” said Nevada senior Jack Spence. “We ended up getting second in conference (in 2023) and since then, we’ve all gotten better each year.”
Building a passion
How the Cubs got to where they are so fast is a simple story of hard work and the willingness to embrace the sport.
That all starts with Couser.
“If I can infect these kids with a disease that I call the love of tennis,” Couser said. “It takes about a year for you to feel confident, but once you hit that year mark, I swear it’s an addiction.”
Couser, a 2003 Nevada graduate, never played tennis competitively. But he started playing recreationally, and he could not get enough of it.
He became hooked on the sport. He frequently plays at Cardio Tennis, which is part of the Racquet and Fitness Center in Ames.
Couser developed his love for tennis because it is a great way to stay in shape. But his players soon saw they could improve their skills and have a lot of fun, while also working on their endurance, so many of them soon joined up to play at Cardio Tennis and found other ways to spend time on the court.
“It really started at the end of last season,” said Nevada’s No. 1 singles player Connery Varsa. “A lot of us went to clinics over in Ames and did private lessons. We have a lot of multisport athletes, but we’ve still been training. We stayed on each other to make sure we’re consistent.”
Carrying over success from other sports
Success in other sports also helped the Cub players build confidence. Nevada won the school’s first-ever state football championship in the fall of 2025, and the boys basketball team is coming off one of its best seasons ever.
“Nevada is just a town full of athletes,” Spence said. “Since freshman year, our grade has had a culture of winning. We’ve been just an overall well-rounded program, and it’s transferred over to tennis hard this year.”
Through the South Tama meet, Varsa is 10-1 in the No. 1 singles position, Noah Johnson is 10-0 in the No. 2 spot, Braeden Moore is 8-0 at No. 3, Spence is 9-0 at No. 4, Collin Skaggs is 7-2 at No. 5 and Nicholas Fischels is 8-0 at No. 6. Moore has one win at the No. 2 spot, and Johnson is 1-0 at No. 3.
Overall, Nevada is a combined 55-3 in singles matches. The Cubs have also been dominant in doubles play with a 28-5 record.
Preparing for a tough district
Nevada has a make-up meet against Fort Dodge and Boone on May 12 and the Cubs host Shenandoah to close out the regular season on May 14.
The postseason begins with the district singles and doubles tournament at Knoxville on May 16. Cedar Rapids Xavier, which produced last year’s singles and doubles state champions, will be favored to win both, but Nevada is looking to still push a singles player or doubles team through to the state tournament.
“We have a pretty tough district, but I think we have a pretty good chance to get in a couple bids for state,” Varsa said. “Team (districts), I think we have an even better chance to make state.”
The 1A team district substate finals will take place on May 20 and the 1A state individual and doubles tournament is on May 27-28 at the Byrnes Park courts in Waterloo.
The 1A state team tournament takes place June 2-3 in Pella.
“We have a very strong team with good depth,” Couser said. “On a good day, I think we can make state.”
Keeping the momentum going
All six of Nevada’s varsity singles players are seniors, so Couser will have a big rebuilding job ahead of him in 2027.
“The key to success there is probably starting younger,” Couser said. “Indoor programs exist in the big cities, and they are very fortunate to have them… But anybody can play tennis.”
But with how fast he turned Nevada into a contender from the program’s inception, expect the Cubs to build back up in no time.
Joe Randleman covers high school sports for the Ames Tribune. Contact him at jrandleman@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @JoeRandleman
This article originally appeared on Ames Tribune: How Nevada built a successful boys tennis program from scratch
Reporting by Joe Randleman, Ames Tribune / Ames Tribune
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