The Valley City Hi-Liners Tennis team continued its winning ways yesterday, dispatching EDC Rival Shanley 8-1 to move their team record to 3-0 on the year.
It was another dominant performance for the Hi-Liner doubles teams, as they swept the deacons 3-0 in doubles play. The senior tandem of Breck Sufficool and Abby Martineck gritted out a three-set win against one of the better EDC teams, while sophomores Georgia Zaun and Kailee Neilson rolled to a dominant straight-set win. Alyssa Thomsen and Skye Neilson wrapped things up with a straight-set win of their own.
The only loss of the day for the Hi-Liners came singles, the top singles matchup, as Breck Sufficool lost in straight sets to Shanley’s Madeline Abbott, who finished 2nd last year in EDC singles play. Abby Martineck, Skye Neilson, and Georgia Zaun all comfortably won their respective singles matchups, with senior Ella Olson coming from behind to capture a three-set win against Taylor Sandin.
The match of the day belonged to Kailee Nielson and Mary Wolf, as both players battled to a third-set tiebreaker. After Nielson dominated the first set, Wolf proved her all-conference mettle by storming back to take the second. The third and final set would drag all the way out until Nielson finally put the match away, taking an 11-9 tiebreaker win in the third.
Head Coach Matt Nielson said of his team’s mental makeup that “they control what they can control: their attitude, their effort, their communication, and their sportsmanship. Then, they let the chips fall. If we keep focusing on what we can control, we will perform the best we can for the day. We will perform the best we can in pressure situations, which we did today.”
The next contest for the Hi-Liners will be at home Monday, April 29th, at 3:00 PM against the West Fargo Packers. Tuesday, April 30th, the Hi-Liners will host Fargo South at home at 4:00 . This is the team’s “Tennis Appreciation Night,” where the Valley City Tennis Association will have a hotdog feed with desserts, fruit, vegetables, lemonade, etc. All community members and tennis enthusiasts are invited to come and watch and partake in the picnic.
Photos Courtesy of Brent Thomsen