GRAND FORKS, N.D. (NewsDakota.com) – The North Dakota Class A Tennis tournament results. Congratulations to Kailee Nielson & Skye Nielson: #1 East Doubles (State Champions)
Round 1: Defeated #8W Julia Stoner/Braxtyn Bennett (MN) 6-0, 6-0
Quarterfinals: Defeated #5E Gretta Cassola/Emilyn Williams (Shan) 6-1, 6-1
Semifinals: Defeated #2W Ava Dunlop/Sophia Edland (BC) 4-6, 6-2, 6-1
Championship: Defeated #1W Ava Thuner/Grace Olson (M) 6-0, 6-3
Georgia Zaun: #2 East Singles (State 6 th Place)
Round 1: Defeated #7W Joya Martian (BL) 6-0, 6-1
Quarterfinals: Lost to #3W Shayna Klitzke (D) 7-6(5), 6-7(4), 6-2
Consolation Quarterfinals: Defeated #5E Sadie Barnett (FD) 6-4, 6-1
Consolation Semifinals: Defeated #3E Mary Wolf (Shan) 6-2, 6-0
Consolation Championship: Lost to #4W Jenny Pitcher (BC) 6-4, 6-2
Lexi Svenningsen & Kinlee Sufficool: #7 East Doubles
Round 1: Lost to #2W Ava Dunlop/Sophia Edland (BC) 6-2, 6-7(5), 7-6(1)
Consolation Round 1: Lost to #6W Morgan Daley/Erin Daley (D) 6-3, 6-1
Thoughts on Kailee and Skye’s tournament: Kailee and Skye came into the tournament undefeated in doubles together and really haven’t been pushed. That was the same case in their first two rounds only dropping two games in two full matches. This put them into the semifinals and guaranteed them no worse than a 4th place finish. In the semifinal, we were not moving, on our heels, and not confident in the first set. We weren’t getting our feet into position or attacking the ball on offense, defense, or neutral. Our lobs were going short allowing Century to be the aggressors. We found ourselves down 1-5 and fought back to 4-5 deuce, but dropped that point and the set. That set loss awoken the beast. In the next two sets, they were moving like lightning picking off balls at the net and always attacking their strokes from the baseline and being the aggressors cruising to a 3-set victory.
In the championship, we lined up with the #1 team from the west in Minot’s Thuner and Olson whose only loss came to Kailee and Skye in the Sheyenne Invite championship match just three weeks prior. Kailee and Skye continued their momentum and attacking, winning every clutch point in the first set to win it 6-0. In the second, Minot played two back and then rushed the net. With their change of pace and super aggressive play, Minot took a 2-1 advantage on the first break. Our girls settled into the set and won five of the last six games to take home the State Championship! With the win, Kailee and Skye are back-to-back doubles state champions! This is the first time in Hi-Liner history that any player won multiple individual championships. Congrats Kailee and Skye!
Thoughts on Georgia’s State Tournament: Georgia came into the state tournament on a high after making the EDC championship match the week prior. In the opening round outside, she played her game and won in short order 6-0, 6-1 against the #7 seed from the WDA. In the second round, we had the match of the tournament against Shayna Klitzke, the #3 seed from the WDA. The first set was back and forth from the onset. It went to a tiebreaker where Georgia worked her way to 5-6 needing to save a set point, but could not. With Georgia down a set, both played lights out. They both were in the zone. They were hitting hard, placed, consistent balls. They were running every shot down and putting it back deep. They were making great shot selections on tough balls. Neither would be pushed off the baseline as they took every deep ball on the rise. It was probably the single greatest set of singles that I have had the privilege of coaching! They went to a tiebreaker where Georgia went up 5-1 and continued to grind to
win it 7-4. In the third, Klitzke had just a little more gas in the tank on the long rallies and the deuces. Georgia played three #1 singles matches the day before in the team tournament while Shayna didn’t compete in the team tournament. Georgia left everything on the court. Her team, her coaches, her family, and all of the Hi-Liner fans are so proud of you for your effort. People that didn’t have any skin in the game would stop and watch this match as it was that wonderful. Nice job Georgia. As Georgia lost, she needed to play one more match on the consolation side on Friday. This is a trap match. You just gave everything you had to try to make the semifinals and lost. Now, you have to come back against a player that is more rested and just won their last match. But – Georgia didn’t let it be a trap match. She came out on fire and never let Sadie into the match. Georgia had the same level of play and shot making as her semifinals and blew Sadie off the court to make it to the consolation semifinals. On Saturday, Georgia had a familiar foe in Mary Wolf from Shanley. Georgia beat in the EDC semifinals last week. In this match, Georgia’s pace, spin, and depth was too much for Mary and won in short order 6-2, 6-0. This put Georgia in the 5th place match for the second year in a row and set up a rematch from the state team tournament. In the semifinals, Georgia and Jenny faced off with the winner of that match sending their team to the state championship. Georgia won that match and we had the privilege of playing in our 2nd state title match in 3 years. In this bout, Jenny played a lot looser than she did in the team tournament. Jenny would hit just as hard as Georgia and she also wasn’t going to be pushed off the baseline. Jenny was super consistent and earned the victory. Georgia took 6th place at state for the 2nd year in a row. Congrats Georgia! Thoughts on Lexi and Kinlee’s State Tournament: In senior Kinlee’s first year out for tennis, she state qualified with freshman Lexi as the #7 seed. We opened up the tournament with the #2 team from
the west in Century. We lost the first set 6-2. In the second set, we moved, believed, attacked, and just played tennis. Century made a few crucial errors that kept us in striking distance. We forced a breaker and played aggressive going up 6-5 and clinched the set on the next point! After a 10-minute break between sets, we started off hot in the next set going up 4-0. Our inexperience along with their experience showed up and Century rattled off six of the next seven games to go up 5-6 saving a couple match points along the way. We had one final push to force a third set tiebreaker. Century grabbed the momentum in that tiebreaker and never looked back. That was an amazing match for Lexi and Kinlee. Of course we wish we could have won it, but you did incredible. That team went on to make the semifinals and then became the only team all season to take a full set off of Kailee and Skye. They are a very good team and you had them on the ropes. Excellent job Kinlee and Lexi!
In the consolation bracket, we were against a good team in the Daley sisters from Dickinson. This was only a half hour after the three-set loss and was outside again in the sun and heat. Our legs weren’t fully there and our consistency wasn’t high enough to knock off a good team. Most bounces went our way before state, but seemed to elude us at state and that is ok. You were EDC champions and you state qualified. Congrats Lexi and Kinlee! End of Season Stats: Our team came in clutch all season and played high level tennis. Our team shattered the Hi-Liner individual season wins record by 25 matches winning a total of 203 individual matches. We tied the record for most team wins in a season at 17 with the 2024 state championship team. (We didn’t win the state championship, but as we added Horace we had one more match to play within the season)
Kailee finished her season undefeated going 38-0 and holds the Hi-Liner record for most wins in a season along with most wins in a career at 172. She is the only Hi-Liner to go undefeated in a season. Georgia finished her season going 32-8 and going undefeated in doubles. All 8 of her losses were only to players that finished in the top 5 at the state singles tournament. She set the record for most singles wins in a season at #1 with 24. Georgia is also the third Hi-Liner ever to reach 150 wins joining Kailee and Reagan Ingstad (152). Skye finished her season going 37-1 with her only loss in the team state championship playing doubles with our #8 Rylyn against the WDA doubles champions and state runner-ups. She set the record for doubles wins in a season with 26. She also holds the record for singles wins in a season with 25 during the 2024 campaign. Skye at the end of her sophomore year has 118 wins. The rest of the Hi-Liners all had great seasons as well. Here are their records. Lexi 25-12. Kinlee 23-10.
Cambrie 18-11. Sara 11-6. Rylyn 12-4. Chloe 5-2. Sophie 2-2.
End of Season Thoughts: I am grateful to be a Hi-Liner coach and to work with these amazing young women throughout the season and in the off season. They create an amazing team culture and support each other. They work hard, seek coaching, and have fun together. Our seniors were the pulse of our team. Georgia and Kailee started as 7 th graders and won a combined 29 varsity matches that year. They never slowed down. I’m grateful I was able to coach my daughter and a great person in Georgia for six years. Rylyn came out as a junior and Kinlee joined just this year. Rylyn and Kinlee are Hi-Liners to the bone with their attitudes, their work ethic, their support of their teammates, and how they fulfill their roles to the utmost of their abilities. Thank you seniors. You have left an amazing legacy for your teammates and future Hi-Liner tennis players. The accolades for this team are many. The real value is not in the wins and hardware. The value is in lessons learned along the way. How to grow in defeat. How to control the things you can control and block everything else out. How to perform in stressful situations. That hard work in the off season and practice leads to incremental gains that prove themselves over time. As we had no one graduate and added in a varsity caliber player, all players had to adjust and put the team first even if they didn’t get
the same playing time as the prior season. I’m proud of how all our players grew this season in tennis and as young adults. We have a great program and it is not by chance. We have a school system that supports tennis. We have a great relationship with the parks and rec that develops players from a young age. The Valley City Tennis Association steps in and helps where needed and runs our Junior Team Tennis program in the summer. The TRAC in Jamestown works with us for court time in the winter along with court time when needed during season. We have an athletic development program that our players participate in.
A big contributor to our program coaching staff that is experienced, dedicated, and consistent. Coach Sara Aberle and Coach Hannah Aberle have been the JV and JH coach for many years. They follow our pillars, care, put in the time, develop relationships, and communicate with the players and the head coach. Coach Erik Kringle and coach Susan Kringlie are volunteer coaches, but their dedication is unreal in their time, effort, energy, and passion for Hi-Liner tennis. We are extremely grateful and lucky two members of the North Dakota Tennis Hall of Fame coaching our student-athletes. Looking ahead, we graduate two Co-Senior Athletes of the Year in Georgia and Kailee. We also graduate two emotional leaders in Rylyn and Kinlee. The team will be different next year. But – we still have six players that came with us to state this year in Skye, Lexi, Sara, Cambrie, Chloe, and Sophie. This off-season will be huge in our development. Most of the EDC didn’t graduate much beside VC, so we will be underdogs next year to qualify for state. Depending on how much quality time we spend on the court, tournaments attended, working out, etc will be how next season will go. Go get it Hi-Liners!
Thanks to all our players, coaches, parents, and fans for a great year. Thanks to Valley City Public schools for the unwavering support. Thanks to my family and wife Annette for the dedication and support throughout my head coaching career which now stands at 20 years. I am blessed to be the Hi-Liner tennis coach. Matt Nielson
