FARGO, N.D. (NewsDakota.com) – Not one, not two, but three Valley City Hi-Liners will be heading to the State Tennis Tournament in Grand Forks this week.
Blake Triebold, Kai Kringlie and Derek Bear advanced with a great Saturday of tennis at the East Region meet which was held at various locations around Fargo and West Fargo.
Triebold, who was a 3 seed coming in, went 4-1 for the tournament. His lone loss came to Logan Sandberg, the #1 seed, in the championship 6-2, 6-1.
Kringlie and Bear were a #10 seed coming into the regional. They went 4-2, including winning two matches versus higher seeds. They qualified for state with an 9-7 win over ninth seed Drew Sperle and Kasen Baer of West Fargo Sheyenne. Then in the consolation semifinals, they defeated fourth seed Kai Pierce and Mitchell Runcorn of Shanley 9-7. They will be a 6th seed heading in to the state tournament.
Here are the individual results and Coach Nielson’s Thought:
#3 Blake Triebold in Singles:
1st Round: Defeated Nick Dawson (South) 6-0, 6-0
2nd Round: Defeated Preston Elhard (WF) 6-0, 6-0
Quarterfinals: Defeated #11 Jack McCormick (Davies) 6-2, 6-2
Semifinals: Defeated #2 Finnian O’Donnell (Shanley) 6-4, 6-1
Championship: Lost to #1 Logan Sandberg (GFC) 6-2, 6-1
#8 Seth Zeltinger in Singles:
1st Round: Defeated Connor Cook (Shey.) 6-2, 6-4
2nd Round: Defeated #9 David Comings (Wahp.) 7-6(6), 4-6, 6-3
Quarterfinals: Lost to #1 Logan Sandberg (GFC) 6-3, 6-1
State Qualifier: Lost to #7 Ethan Raan (Shey.) 8-4
Alex Rogelstad in Singles:
1st Round: Lost to #5 Espen Schneider (GFRR) 6-0, 6-0
Consolation 1st Round: Defeated Mansib Rahman (WF) 8-3
Consolation 2nd Round: Lost to Brett Skeldum (North) 8-1
#10 Kai Kringlie and Derek Bear in Doubles:
1st Round: Lost to #7 J.Dufault/R.Kennelly (North) 6-2, 7-6(5)
Consolation 1st Round: Defeated B.Moen/A.Baker (North) 8-1
Consolation 2nd Round: Defeated N.Christensen/W.Solberg (Shey.) 8-4
State Qualifier: Defeated #9 D.Sperle/K.Baer (Shey.) 9-7
Consolation Semifinals: Defeated #4 K.Pierce/M.Runcorn (Shanley) 9-7
Consolation Championship: Lost to #6 C.Spicer/C.Wilber (GFC) 8-6
Ethan Bear and Miles Taylor in Doubles:
1st Round: Lost to A.Withuski/A.Comings (Wahp.) 6-3, 6-4
Consolation 1st Round: Lost to C.Bry/A.Erickson (South) 8-1
EDC Awards:
Kai Krnglie/Derek Bear state qualified as the #6 seed from the EDC.
Blake Triebold state qualified as the #2 seed from the EDC.
Blake Triebold and Seth Zeltinger were named All-EDC.
Blake Triebold was voted as Co-EDC Senior Athlete of the Year.
Thoughts:
Alex played his best tennis of the season. In his opening match against the #5 seed, he was dictating points. He set up and smacked winners. He was playing like he was a #2 player even though he is our #9. In his second match, he earned his first varsity match victory ever. Congratulations Alex!
Ethan and Miles played together for the first time in this tournament as our #5, #6, and #8 were unavailable. Miles rose to the occasion and played very solid tennis. He was stepping into returns and moving well. Ethan played very well also. This will be invaluable experience heading into next season. Nice tournament fellas!
Seth earned the #8 seed going into the tournament. He won in the first round with a solid outing. In the second round against Wahpeton’s #1 player and the #9 seed, Seth faltered. We worked on the mental and emotional side of playing on the set break. Seth bought in and executed. He won the final set 6-3, but he was in control the entire way. Way to flip the switch in that third set and keep it on the entire set. In the quarterfinals against the eventual EDC champion Logan Sandberg, Seth came out swinging. He was bombing serves and smacking winners. He lost the first set by only a break. In the second set, Logan was able to get more balls back and deep leading to a 6-1 victory. Seth won more games against Logan than anyone the rest of the tourney. In the state qualifier, Seth ran into #7 Ethan Raan from Sheyenne. Raan ran everything down from Seth and hit back with shaped, deep topspin shots without hitting errors. Raan was on fire and ended Seth’s season. Seth has a couple things to work on in the offseason to go from a very good player to an elite player and I know he is going to put in the time and effort to make it happen. Nothing to hang your head about Seth. You had a great season and a great tourney!
Kai and Derek earned the #10 seed in the doubles tournament and came to play. They lost in a close match against the #7 seed, Fargo North’s #1 and #2 players, in a 2nd set tiebreak. To make the state qualifier, Derek and Kai needed to win two matches against unseeded teams and they took care of business, growing as a doubles team and as individual doubles players with each point played. In the state qualifier, they had Sheyenne’s #2 and #3 players, the #9 seed. Valley was down 7-6 in the 8-game pro set and came back to win three games in a row to state qualify with a 9-7 victory. After state qualifying, any other victory is just gravy. We went against the #4 seed in Shanley and played out of their minds. Both Kai and Derek were smacking ground strokes cross court. We were lobbing at appropriate times. At the net, we were going for balls and putting them away. We were confident in overheads and just went for it. After falling behind 7-5, we stormed back winning four games in a row to make the consolation finals. We played this same way in the 5th place match, but Central took it in the end. Way to leave it all on the court gentlemen. It was so fun to watch you and congratulations on state qualifying!
Blake was seeded #3 by the coaches. In his opening two rounds on Friday, he had a favorable draw and won both matches 6-0, 6-0 to make the quarterfinals Saturday morning. Against McCormick of Davies, Blake alternated attacking and coming to the net and giving Jake short balls to pass him. Jake’s perseverance and consistency is frustrating, but Blake just powered through and beat him 6-2, 6-2 to make the semifinals. (Jake went on to place 7th.) In the semifinals, Blake was against Shanley’s Finnian O’Donnell. Blake was sick for the regular season match, so this was their first true meeting of the season between theses two Co-Senior Athletes of the Year. Blake charged out to a 4-1 lead. On the next changeover, Finn won his service game on deuce. On Blake’s first serve on deuce, Finn ran around his backhand and hit the hardest forehand winner down the line I have every seen in high school tennis. Coming back to 4-3, I thought Finn had the momentum. Blake was able to get one of the next two games to push to a 5-4 edge on Finn’s serve. Blake was up 40-15 and had 3 set points. Finn fought off the first two, but then double faulted on deuce to give Blake the set. In the second set, Blake was hitting harder and more consistent than I’ve ever seen. He was also returning serve with depth against an estimated 120mph serve. He cruised in the second set to a 6-1 victory and a spot in the championship match. In the championship match, Logan was too consistent to deep corners and kept us moving. Congrats to Logan on his EDC championship. With the loss, Blake will be the East’s #2 seed heading into the state tournament.
Congratulations to Seth and Blake on their All-EDC award. They definitely earned it with their play this season. There was four players vying for three Senior Athlete of the Year positions. Blake with his play, mentality, and toughness got the nod from the coaches as one of the three. Well deserved Blake!
It was a great tournament all the way around. The Hi-liners peaked at the right time at all spots and left it all on the court. They had a great mentality, great effort, and were extremely coachable making changes on the court. We are proud of the growth our team made this season.
Coming up at the state tournament…Blake Triebold, the EDC’s #2 seed, will play WDA’s #7 Hunter Rice (Minot) in the first round of the state tournament on Friday in Grand Forks. Kai Kringlie and Derek Bear, the EDC’s #6 seed, will play the WDA’s #3 team of K.Pritchett/B.Heibling (Mandan).