Submitted by Matt Nielson
GRAND FORKS, ND (NewsDakota.com) – Hi-Liner Results from Team Day at the EDC Regional Tennis Tournament in Grand Forks: Valley City Always Listed First
Quarterfinals:
#9 VC 0
#1 Red River 5
1S. Miles Taylor lost to Espen Schneider 6-1, 6-0
2S. Casey Kruger lost to Kellen Johnson 6-3, 6-0
3S. Max Magnuson lost to Carson Skarperud 6-0, 6-0
1D. Kai Kringlie/Trey Cope lost to Sayler Kuenzel/Luc Bydal 6-4, 6-1
2D. Alex Rogelstad/Jayden Johnson lost to Asher Green/Tadhg Murphy 6-1, 6-0
Consolation Semifinals:
#9 VC 2
#4 GF Central 3
1S. Alex Rogelstad lost to Evan Panzer 6-0, 6-0
2S. Miles Taylor lost to Cole Wilber 6-4, 6-1
3S. Casey Kruger defeated Logan Nielsen 6-3, 6-4
1D. Kail Kringlie/Max Magnuson defeated Rylan Spicer/AJ Spicer 5-7, 6-4, 10-5
2D. Trey Cope/Jayden Johnson lost to Hanson Du/Jason Ling 6-3, 7-5
Thoughts:
We played a lot of good tennis against Red River. Max was hitting the ball purely in his match. Miles was making one of the best players in the state work for his points. Casey had a shot at deuce to go up 4-3 in the first set. Kai and Trey were down 5-4 in the first set against what might be the #1 seed in the doubles draw. Alex and Jayden were right in every game. This was a great opening round match heading into the consolation semifinals.
Against Grand Forks Central, we created the best line-up possible to win the match. Central’s top 2 are fantastic so we needed to find a way to win at three singles and then both doubles. Casey has been playing lights out these last couple weeks, so we wanted to get him at #3 singles. To do this, we needed to put Alex at #1 and Miles at #2. Casey then pulled through winning in straight sets.
Miles had himself a heck of a match. He was up 3-1 40-30 on a heck of a player in Wilbur. On changeovers, I overheard their coaching staff complementing Miles and trying to get Wilbur to ‘weather the storm’ that Miles was bringing. It was a great match proving that Miles can play with anyone!
In the doubles, Trey and Jayden had a back and forth match. Momentum shifted multiple times throughout. We gave ourselves a shot to claw to 5-6 deuce in the second set, but didn’t convert that point earning Central that match. Kai and Max finished their first set a little timid, but came out strong in the second and won it 6-4. In the 3rd set tiebreaker, it was tied 5-5 before Max and Kai ratcheted it up and won 5 points in a row to win the match.
Last Thursday, we played Central and got beat 9-0 with only one set closer that 6-3; they shellacked us on that day. Today, our players dug deep and believed which gave us a shot to knock them off needing only one more match to knock them off. Great effort Hi-Liners!
With the loss, the Hi-Liners’ team season is complete. The individual competition begins Friday at 10am in Grand Forks.