BISMARCK (NewsDakota)- If Valley City Hi-Liner fans are feeling a hint of Deja Vu, they wouldn’t mind one more day of it.

Kadie Kocka registered eighteen of Valley City’s 44 kills and the fourth-seeded Hi-Liners advanced to the Class A State Championship match with a 3-1 (25-15, 23-25, 25-8, 25-22) win over top-seeded South Prairie-Max on Friday afternoon at the Bismarck Civic Center.

The first set began with a 4-0 run for Valley City (22-9) behind strong service from Morgan Larson, and then Kocka got going with six of her kills in just the opening set.  But Royals (34-4-1) superstar Skotti Beck and Kiera Francis stole the show in the second set, combining for fourteen kills and SP-M were back level.

And at that point, the Hi-Liners said “enough of that”.

The third set began 12-1 as Kocka got help from Skye Nielsen and Dacota Potratz, who combined for sixteen kills and one error, as the Hi-Liners took a two sets to one lead.  The fourth set was more competitive, with the Royals beginning well and Valley City fighting back on the serve of Layni Bakalar, and when Kocka crushed her final kill, the Hi-Liners were headed to the state title match.

The similarities between the 2025 Girls Basketball Championship and the current run go further than just the semifinal opponent.  Each time Valley City will now have faced a Region 2A team for the title, as their opponents Saturday night will be May-Port CG, who defeated Central Cass on Friday.  They also had Region 2 opposition in both quarterfinals.  Their fans now hope the ending is the same.

Coverage of the Class A State Championship match between May-Port CG and Valley City will begin Saturday at approximately 5:15pm on KOVC.