The Majettes made the trip to Grand Forks yesterday for the State Team Dual Meet at Choice Health & Fitness today followed by two days of individual competition Friday and Saturday to finish off the season.

“They’ve been excited, there’s no way around that,” Majettes head coach Scott DeLorme said. “They knew they had some tough competition last weekend and we played well to luckily get out of there with the No. 1 seed in the West.”

With the top seed secured and the satisfaction of playing well, the defending state champion Majettes came into practices this week relaxed and comfortable. This is something DeLorme is hoping the team can carry into the first round of play.

In the regular season, the Majettes were 15-6 overall. Three of their six loses came against East teams that will be competing in the state dual meet.

Ashton Gerard/MDN Minot High School's Joelle Fettig leaps across the court in an attempt to return the ball while doubles partner Eden Olson watches on during a doubles match at the West Region Individual Tournament May 25 in Minot.

“We’ve played some East schools and we’ve lost some tough ones,” DeLorme said. “We also haven’t put out our best lineup in any of those… We know we have some options out there.”

During the regular season, Minot High and West Fargo Sheyenne met in Bismarck for a match. The Mustangs defeated the Majettes, 9-0, on May 4. At that point in the season, the Mustangs carried more experience and confidence with them to the courts and it showed. Multiple individual matches went three sets, but the Majettes missed a few too many opportunities.

On May 10, the Majettes traveled to Fargo for a pair of matches against Fargo Davies and Fargo North. They split the day and defeated Fargo North, 4-1, before falling to Davies, 2-3.

Grand Forks Red River was the final team during the regular season to serve the Majettes a loss, and will also be their first match today. On May 17, the Roughriders topped Minot, 4-3.

At the time, DeLorme noted the team failed to win key points at crucial points in their individual matches and that came back to hurt them by the end of the day.

“The biggest thing against the East schools is you have to believe you can beat them and you have to believe you’re as good as them,” DeLorme said. “I think our girls have done that for the past two years at the state tournament, so I don’t think that’s going to be an issue. Hopefully, we can get there and get rid of the nerves early on.”

With nerves kicked to the curb, DeLorme believes the Majettes have a chance to come out and win a few matches.

In the individual tournament, Minot High has qualified five athletes — one in singles and two doubles pairs.

For singles, senior Raquel Egge will be coming in as the No. 1 seed from the West.

“Raquel Egge has had a fantastic year, a fantastic career, so hopefully she can put together one more solid weekend for herself,” DeLorme said. “She’s capable of making it to the semifinals and she’s as good as any player in the state.”

In the dual against Grand Forks Red River earlier in the season, Egge was able to defeat Shaelyn Johnson who has won a state singles title in the past. Because of this and the way the season has gone so far, DeLorme is looking for big things from Egge in both the team and individual tournaments.

“Our doubles teams that we paired together really for the first time all year were very good,” DeLorme said. “If they can continue to play together and play smart, which was the biggest thing for them, I think we have a couple doubles teams that have the same chance as Raquel.”

Competing the in the doubles tournament as the No. 2 seed from the West are freshman Sofia Egge and sophomore Morgan Wheeler.

“They didn’t get seeded last weekend (at WDA) but as a Minot coaching staff, we knew they were good enough to be seeded,” DeLorme said. “They have all the tools needed to be a good doubles team.”

Coming in as the No. 3 seed from the West are senior Joelle Fettig and freshman Eden Olson.

Olson, who went to state tournament last year as an eighth-grader in singles, decided she would play with Fettig during her freshman season.

“They’re going to get better as the weekend goes on, so they’re a team I think could be dangerous in the right situation,” DeLorme said.

The Majettes begin play today at 10 a.m. against Grand Forks Red River in the quarterfinals of the team dual meet at Choice Health & Fitness in Grand Forks.