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N.D. (NewsDakota.com)- For the first time in over a decade Valley City girls’ tennis will send a singles player to the state tournament. Breanna McDonald finished 6th Saturday and will join the doubles team of Reagan Ingstad and Cali Halgrimson,who nabbed a 2nd place finish, as The Hi-Liners representatives at the individual tournament Friday in Grand Forks. After The EDC tournament wrapped up conference awards were announced, Ingstad and Halgrimson were named All EDC and Matt Nielson was voted Coach of The Year.
Saturday’s Results
Doubles Semifinals
#1 R.Ingstad/C.Halgrimson defeated #5 P.Chemiti/A.McIntosh (West Fargo Sheyenne) 6-2, 7-5
Doubles Championship
#1 R.Ingstad/C.Halgrimson lost to #2 M.Anderson/M.Johnson (Grand Forks Red River) 6-1, 6-2
Singles Consolation Quarterfinals (State Qualifying Match)
#9 Breanna McDonald defeated Sophie Keelin (Fargo Shanley) 6-3, 6-3
Singles Consolation Semifinals
#9 Breanna McDonald defeated Brooke Kennelly (Grand Forks Red River) 6-4, 5-7, 6-1
Singles Consolation Championship
#9 Breanna McDonald lost to #3 Jenna Forknell (Fargo Davies) 7-6(2), 6-4
EDC Awards for Valley City:
2nd Place Doubles: Reagan Ingstad and Cali Halgrimson
6th Place Singles: Breanna McDonald
All-EDC: Reagan Ingstad and Cali Halgrimson
EDC Coach of the Year: Coach Matt Nielson
4th Place in the Team Tournament
State Schedule for Valley City at Choice Health and Fitness in Grand Forks:
Thursday is Team Day
#4E Valley City plays #1W Minot at 10am
Win or lose – we will play a second match 30 minutes after Minot
If we win at least one of those matches, we will play in a placing match at 4:30pm
Friday is Day One of the Individual State Tournament
#2E Reagan Ingstad/Cali Halgrimson plays #7W Gwen Mathews/Alyssa Henson (Minot)
#6E Breanna McDonald plays #3W Lauryn Andre (Bismarck High School)
Win or lose – we will play a second match and potentially a third match.
Coach’s Comments
It was another great day for the Hi-Liners. Reagan and Cali navigated through their semifinals catching fire at the end of the first set and starting the second set. We went through a little lull in the second set going from up 3-0 to tied at 5-5. We ratcheted up our game in the last two games to win the match and set up Valley City and Red River for the championship.
In round one of VC vs. RR this year, we came away with the victory at home in the EDC match. We also met in the West Fargo Invite in the third place match won by Red River. The EDC championship was round three and Red River kept doing just enough to maintain and lead and finish the match. Congratulations to Red River as they won the EDC championship today.
When Cali and Reagan made the semifinals and state qualified, I didn’t think twice. Upon reflection, this is a big deal. Last year, Cali didn’t even play doubles in our line-up and played 5 singles. This year, she played 2 singles and 1 doubles. This is Cali’s first year playing doubles and she and Reagan not only state qualified, but made the championship match! Wow! That is nuts! Congratulations on taking second and also earning All-EDC.
Breanna McDonald made waves today at the tournament. In her state qualifying match, Breanna played Sophie Keelin from Shanley. Bre played well, moving the ball around and playing consistent. She won 6-3, 6-3 to become the first girls VC tennis player in over ten years to state qualify in singles! Congratulations Bre!
In the consolation semifinal match against Brooke Kennelly, Bre caught fire like I’ve never seen. Her footwork, movement, shot selection, variety, and belief in herself propelled her to the victory setting up a consolation championship match against the #3 seed Jenna Forknell. In that match – Bre upped it even another notch from before. She was played crazy defense and also hitting clean winners. She was in the zone for most of the day. She was a sheer joy to watch today. It was amazing!
Being named EDC Coach of the Year is an honor and is our team’s award. Other teams’ coaches, players, parents, and fans comment on how much fun it is to play Valley City. Our team is friendly to everyone and plays with high sportsmanship and high integrity. The girls win humbly and we lose graciously. I couldn’t be prouder of our whole team.