GRAND FORKS,  ND (NewsDakota.com)  The Valley City Hi-Liners have won the 2024 girls tennis championship.

Valley City defeated Minot 3-2 for the championship Thursday night.   The Hi-Liners won all three matches by a 3-2 score.

Minot took an early lead, with Kylie Fettig and Sienna Ronning securing victories in their matches, putting the Hi-Liners in a 2-0 deficit. However, the defending state doubles champions, Breck Sufficool and Abby Martineck, and the second Hi-Liner pairing of Kailee Nielson and Georgia Zaun rallied to win in doubles to even the match up at 2-2.

Just like the EDC Tournament, the final result would rest on the racket of 8th grader Skye Neilson, and just like earlier, she would rise to the occasion. Nielson would take the singles victory to propel Valley City to a 3-2 victory over the defending state champions to win the title. This was Valley City’s first state tennis title since 1971.

Hi-Liners Head Coach Matt Neilson discussed the strategy that led up to Skye’s match and her eventual triumph: “We knew that in order for us to have a chance, we needed to sweep doubles and pick up a win in singles. Skye had an awesome EDC tournament, and we said, ‘ You know you have to come in and play loose, ‘ and she did. These kids have been working hard and have done an amazing job.’

The state tennis tournament will continue today and tomorrow at Choice Health & Fitness in Grand Forks. The individuals tournament will feature Sufficool and Martineck, who are looking to defend their state title in doubles, along with the pairing of Georgia Zaun & Kailee Neilson, along with Skye Neilson in singles.