Confidence drives DHS into tourney
Heading up to Minot to play Bishop Ryan on Monday in a West Region Tournament play-in game, the Dickinson High girls tennis team was out to prove it was better than dead last in the conference. The Midgets triumphed and with relative ease.By: Chris Aarhus, The Dickinson Press
- Krista Padgett
Heading up to Minot to play Bishop Ryan on Monday in a West Region Tournament play-in game, the Dickinson High girls tennis team was out to prove it was better than dead last in the conference.
The Midgets triumphed and with relative ease.
Dickinson trumped the Lions 5-0 to earn a spot in today’s tournament, which has the eighth-seeded Midgets set to do battle with the mighty Bismarck Century Patriots, who cruised through the regular season with an unbeaten record to earn the No. 1 seed. All first-round matches are slated to start at 9:30 a.m.
“Everybody knows Century is the team to beat in the West,” Dickinson coach Kristal Fields said. “That’s OK. All we can do is play the best we possibly can. Whatever happens … happens.”
That’s a strategy that seemed to work pretty well in Minot.
“They played some of the best tennis they’ve played all season,” Fields said. “Part of that is the fact that we’re all back together now.”
The Midgets have rarely had the entire team together at any point this season because of injuries, illness or spring activities. They were intact against Minot Ryan.
“We haven’t had that all season,” Fields said. “They rose to the occasion.”
At the start of the season, Fields called the Midgets “a bubble team” predicting a middle of the pack finish in the regular season and a legitimate shot at sneaking into the state tournament. With Monday’s win, Fields said her players have that preseason confidence again.
“It (the win) gives them a boost,” Fields said. “We’re not saying that we’re going to slay Century 5-0, but at least we have something to shoot for. They know that if they put their heart and soul into it, good things can happen.”
Fields noted Century just happens to be the opponent, and the Midgets are ready for any team.
“We play everybody straight up all the time,” Fields said. “It wouldn’t matter who they played.”
Focusing on their own matches could be the key, according to Fields.
“It’s just a matter of them having the right mindset of going in and focusing on tennis and not anything else,” Fields said. “They have to be living, eating and breathing tennis for the next three days.”
Tags: sports, preps, dickinson, high, tennis
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