VC trekked up to Grand Forks Central for our penultimate EDC match-up.  We played at Central’s true home, Riverside Park, for the first time in over a decade.  They just redid the tennis courts and they are fabulous.

Results:  VC always listed first

VC 0

GFC 9

Singles:

1.  Cali Halgrimson lost to Gabby Spicer 6-3, 6-4

2.  Hope Petersen lost to Katie Stauss 6-1, 6-0

3.  Rose Zeltinger lost to Sophie Welsh 7-6, 6-0

4.  Maisie Leick lost to Madi Stauss 3-6, 7-5, 10-6

5.  Olivia Ingstad lost to Emily Morken 6-3, 7-6(3)

6.  Rachel Beierle lost to Lucy Welsh 6-0, 6-1

Doubles:

1.  Halgrimson/Ingstad lost to G.Spicer/K.Stauss 6-0, 6-1

2.  Petersen/Breck Sufficool lost to S.Welsh/M.Stauss 6-4, 6-2

3.  Zeltinger/Lexia Nix lost to Morken/Magdalene Spicer 6-4, 6-7(4), 6-3

Thoughts:

Grand Forks Central is still in the running for the #2 seed in the EDC.  Their team had taken their lumps for years, but they made it.  Katie and Sophie have been playing varsity since 7th grade and now are a senior and junior that are making waves.  As they have not made state in girls tennis for a while, I will be rooting for them come regionals (except if we are against them).  Their coach, Nick Graves, saw this coming a few years ago and he helped it happen.  Great regular season, Knights and Coach Graves, and good luck at regionals.

We made several break throughs today.  Rose and Lexia are gelling together at #3 doubles.  They lost a very close 3-setter, but you can see the improvement each day.  Maisie took a set off of their #4, but lost in the 3rd set super tiebreaker.  She kept the ball deep and played consistent.  Rose was by far the underdog and gave Sophie everything she could handle in the first set.  Cali fought back from 0-3 down to win the next two games and then from 5-2 down to pull back to 5-4 before losing the match.  We continue to improve and compete, but we have to get over that hump of being close in sets and matches and just go out and leave it all on the court.

The story of the day was Olivia Ingstad.  Olivia’s doubles match was played tentative with poor footwork.  We discussed it at length and something clicked with her.  In her singles, she moved with a purpose.  She split-stepped and exploded to the ball.  She hit and recovered.  She attacked when the opportunity presented itself.  She, by far, played her best match of the year.  She worked her tail off in singles and because of that, she performed very well.  She said that this was the most satisfying match of the season.  I would agree.  If you believe in our Hi-Liner pillars of attitude, effort, communication, and sportsmanship, you can play at a high level, lose, and still be satisfied.  I’m proud of Olivia’s belief in our system and by how much she followed that system today.

Side note:  Thanks to KOVC (newsdakota.com) and the Times Record.  Because of our media outlets, anyone that wants to know about Hi-Liner Tennis can do so.  I had a player and parent from Grand Forks Central that told me that they keep up with our Hi-Liner tennis team and read every article.  It is GREAT being from a small town with media that covers any and all activities willing to work with them.  Thank you KOVC and the Times Record.

Next action is Grand Forks Red River at home on Thursday at 4pm.  We will be having our annual hotdog feed from 5:30-6:30 at the North Courts.  All players, family, friends, media, and FANS  are welcome to partake in the food and watch some tennis.