This recent regular season for the Valley City Hi-Liners had already produced more than a handful of memorable moments. From running the table at the end of the season against the best of the best in the EDC to capture the EDC regular season title, to producing three All-EDC players for the first time ever. But the feats that the Hi-Liners Tennis program produced in Grand Forks this week will cement this teams place in the memory banks of those that live in Valley City for the foreseeable future.
On the team side of things the Hi-Liners would fall to eventual state runner up Bismarck Legacy in the first round of the state tournament dropping them to the challenger side of the bracket. The Hi-Liners would face a West Fargo Sheyenne team in the opening consolation match looking to avenge their regular season winner-take-all loss to the Hi-Liners. After navigating both a lightning delay, and a 1st set tiebreaker that included a ball hitting the ceiling and a rules clarification by tournament officials, the team of Breck Sufficool and Alyssa Thomsen dominated the second set to take Valley City to the consolation championship.
In the consolation title match Valley City would face another familiar foe in Fargo Davies. Georgia Zaun, and the team of Sufficool and Skye Nielsen gave the Hi-Liners their two wins before the deciding game came down to the fifth and final match. Kailee Nielsen grinded out a singles win in the final match to give the Hi-Liners the consolation title at the state tournament for the second year in a row.
On Friday it was time to begin the doubles tournament where Valley City’s top two teams of Abby Martineck/Breck Sufficool, and Kailee Nielsen/Georgia Zaun both where competing. For Martineck and Sufficool it was a routine win in the first round winning 6-1 in both sets. For Nielsen and Zaun while their first round victory was not as routine it was still a straight sets win for the tandem.
This would set up a all Hi-Liner quarterfinal matchup, with the winner being only one game away from playing for a state title. After dropping the first set to the more experienced Hi-Liner team of Sufficool and Martineck, the freshmen team of Nielsen and Zaun would push their teammates to the brink in set two. Sufficool and Martineck would have their backs against the wall facing set point after falling behind 1-4 in the second set. However, the junior pairing would eventually rally to force a tie-break, where they would once again rally to move on to the state semi-finals.
The team of Nielsen and Zaun would win their first consolation game before losing in the consolation semis against the top Fargo Davies pairing of Lee and Wanzek who where the third seeded team out of the EDC coming into state, falling one game shy on the consolation finals. The freshmen though would go home as one of the top eight teams in state a feat that wasn’t lost on Head Coach Matt Nielsen. “They proved they are both top notch players in the state and finishing in the top 8 at state for a couple freshmen is no small feat. They had a great season and a great tournament.”
While Sufficool and Martineck survived a strong test from their teammates to finish up their Friday afternoon, the duo would have to regroup for what was going to be a tough test Saturday morning. Standing in their way to a chance at the state title was the seconded seeded team out of the West, the Dickinson team of Bradley and Klitzke. After Sufficool and Martineck comfortably took the first set they would find themselves in a similar position down 1-4 in the second set. This is when the duos previous experience would pay dividends as they rallied to win six of the last seven games putting them in the championship.
In the finals they would be facing the Bismarck Legacy team of Aleah McPherson and Chelsa Krom. Both McPherson and Krom secured wins for the Sabers on Thursday that helped Legacy topple the Hi-Liners in the team tournament. They also were coming in with a wave of momentum behind them after upsetting the Bismarck Century team of Maya Kubsad and Erika Lee who were the top seed coming out of the west.
The Valley City pairing would not only beat the team that played a large role in ending the Hi-Liners team title hopes, but they would do so with ease playing two up for most of the match winning both sets 6-3 to secure the state championship. This victory snapped the thirty year title drought for Valley City as Martineck and Sufficool become the first state champions for Valley City tennis since Susan Umsted and Brenda Ament in 1991. Umsted, now Susan Kringlie, was court side helping coach the eventual state champions to the title and shared a teary-eyed moment with new champions directly after the match. Both Martineck and Sufficool were awarded All-State honors, never losing a set in state tournament play.
Head Coach Matt Nielsen made it clear that the success of both the newly crowned state champs and the Hi-Liner tennis program as a whole was because of the culture surrounding it. “We have such a strong program because we have so many adults that care about kids in Valley City and show that by coaching. I can’t thank our assistant coaches, Sara Aberle and Hannah Aberle, and our volunteer coaches, Jamie LaFramboise, Susan Kringlie, and Erik Kringlie enough. Thanks to the families and fans for supporting our players to include furnishing team meals, helping with regional/state goodie bags, taking photos, and everything else. I am so proud of our team, and I love being a Hi-Liner!”