VALLEY CITY, N.D (NewsDakota.com) – The Hi-Liner girls tennis team competed at the EDC individual tournament in Fargo on Friday and Saturday. As the weather was rainy, the tournament completed 68 matches indoors at Courts Plus on Friday just over 12 hours of straight play.
Individual results below. VC always listed first.
Singles
First Round
Maisie Leick lost to Madisyn Stauss (GFC) 6-3, 6-1
Olivia Ingstad lost to Grace Meier (SH) 6-2, 6-1
Drew Potratz lost to (6) Ishika Gupta (FD) 6-2, 6-0
Consolation First Round
Maisie Leick beat Liv Dodge (W) 3-6, 7-6(6), 6-1
Olivia Ingstad beat teammate Drew Potratz 6-2, 6-0
Consolation Second Round
Maisie Leick lost to Maddy Sandberg (GFRR) 3-5, retired
Olivia Ingstad lost to Habiba Heshmat (FD) 6-2, 6-2
Doubles:
First Round
(6) Cali Halgrimson/Hope Petersen beat Johnson/Donahue (FS) 6-0, 6-0
Rose Zeltinger/Breck Sufficool lost to Soori/Thompson (FN) 2-6, 6-3, 6-1
Consolation First Round:
Zeltinger/Sufficool beat Miller/Horner (GFRR) 6-1, 6-2
Consolation Second Round
Zeltinger/Sufficool lost to (4) Caoili/Fournier (GFRR) 6-4, 6-3
Drew and Olivia played inspired tennis in the singles draw. They both competed well and hard throughout the tournament. They ended up playing each other in the second round which was nifty as they are first cousins. They left it on the court and they were back to being cousins, friends, and teammates directly after the match. Drew just played tennis. She had fantastic rallies against every opponent and made them work for everything. Olivia went on to play Habiba from Davies that state qualified. Olivia had excellent footwork and shot selection in that match along with a great attitude. We are all proud of Drew and Olivia!
Maisie had the craziest match. She went on the court at 1:25 in her second round and did not come off until 3:58. That was a 2 hour 33 minute match! They had many rallies that I believe went over 50 strokes long. Coach Aberle make the comment that she was going to send Maisie her chiropractic bill as her neck wasn’t going to be the same after watching that many balls per rally. Maisie figured out how and when to attack to win points in that third set and won it 6-1. In her next round, Maisie continued her 3rd set play from the prior match going up 5-2. At that time, something happened with her lower leg. We didn’t have a trainer on site, so Dr. Caoili, a Red River player’s dad, tried KT taping her up to see if she could continue with the match. She fought through as much pain as she could, but she couldn’t continue and retired. Great tournament, Maisie! You surpassed our expectations with your attention to the pillars and your play.
In doubles, Rose and Breck played a Fargo North team in the first round that definitely upped their games from the prior day. The North team took the net over and moved into their volleys. As they controlled the match, they won the match. We learned from that one and we did that in the next match to win against Red River’s #2 doubles team. Rose and Breck then played Red River’s #1 team for the opportunity to play in a state qualifying match on Saturday. Breck really started to step into her volleys and close the net off. Red river was the #4 seed and we played them tight, losing each set by one break. Rose played great tennis all weekend and finished her high school career in a tight match against a very good opponent. Tears may have been shed by teammates after this match. Rose was a Hi-Liner through and through. She was the epitome of a teammate and upheld our pillars. We will miss her leadership and fantastic snarky sense of humor next year. Thank you, Rose, for helping us all grow as tennis players and people.
Cali and Hope were given the #6 seed by the coaches. I believed they deserved a #4 seed, but that is why the tournament isn’t played on paper! Cali and Hope have only played together a couple times this year, so it was nice to have a great draw in the first round. They played Fargo South’s #2 doubles team and got comfortable playing with each other. After almost a 6 hour wait, they played a Davies team that knocked off the #3 team from West Fargo. In that match, Cali took over the net and poached more than any player I have ever watched. She was a beast. Hope had the most fun and was the most focussed as she has ever been. She played by far her best match of her life to put our team in spots to be successful. Those two were positive, moving, enthusiastic, and just happy on the court. Nothing bothered them and they executed beautifully. In my mind, this was the best played match of the entire tournament. I’m so glad all of their teammates were able to watch. They won in two sets to make the semifinals. I didn’t want the match to end, the pure joy that Hope and Cali had playing that match was amazing to watch and be a part of.
In the semifinals, Cali and Hope took advantage of GFC coming out slow taking the first set. GFC then rallied and upped their games to win the second set easily. In the third set, GFC came up with the big points. We had opportunities, but it wasn’t to be. We then fell to the third place match. In that match, our consistency wasn’t as high as needed to beat a good team. Overall, nobody expected us to make it that far. We were the #6 seed that made the semifinals. We outperformed expectations.
Hi-Liner doubles lore continues to grow. When everyone thought we were down, we broke through to the semifinals for the 7th year in a row. No other team can say that. We have had some big moments in doubles in those years. Cali’s and Hope’s feat this weekend ranks right up there with the best of them.
Next action for the Hi-Liners is the individual state tournament in Grand Forks starting at 10am indoors at Choice Health and Fitness pitting Cali and Hope against Sophia Felderman and Bre Helbling from Mandan.
