Submitted Photo Minot High girls tennis player and Our Redeemer’s student Kyllie Fettig signed her letter of intent to play for Minnesota Crookston next season during a press conference at Cameron Courts on Saturday, Dec. 13. Photo provided by Scott DeLorme/Minot High Tennis

While the COVID-19 pandemic was a time of great isolation, where many were confined to the safety of their homes aside from the occasional trip to the grocery store for necessities or the need to go into work as an essential worker, it was also a time of great discovery for some.

With many of their favorite activities no longer available to them due to social distancing requirements and closures, people picked up new hobbies. For some, it was ordering so much meal delivery service that they knew their delivery driver on a first-name basis. For others, it was baking so much bread that they ran out of room in their freezer to store it all.

As for Our Redeemer’s senior Kyllie Fettig, she picked up a tennis racket at the age of 10 and elected to give the sport a shot for the first time as it was one of the few activities she could partake in at the particular time. It turned out to be a wise decision.

As the country came out of its isolation, Fettig developed into one of the top singles tennis players in the state since joining the Minot High program as an eighth grader. On Saturday, Dec. 13, Fettig achieved her dream of playing collegiately, signing her letter to play for Minnesota Crookston during a press conference at Cameron Courts, surrounded by friends, family, teammates and coaches.

“It was really exciting,” Fettig said. “I’ve always wanted to play college tennis, so finally getting there and just having the opportunity and having all my favorite people surrounded by me, it was just awesome.”

Fettig will join the Golden Eagles tennis team next year.

Fettig had been in contact with Minnesota Crookston coach Josh Lunak during the state tournament in June and toured the campus in October. While there, she had the opportunity to meet the rest of the team and play some tennis with them. She was formally offered to join the program and given a deadline to make her decision. She wanted to stay close to home and was also considering U-Mary, Minot State and Black Hills State (S.D.).

“I loved that it was close enough to home where I could still get an experience, but also my parents can come down and watch,” Fettig said.

The Minot High tennis program has a solid relationship with Lunak and the Golden Eagles, as Majettes head coach Scott DeLorme and Lunak competed against one another back in their high school days. Lunak also coaches the Grand Forks Red River boys and girls tennis program, a position he’s held since 2020 and informed DeLorme at the end of Fettig’s sophomore season that she was someone he would be looking to recruit in the future,

“It’s definitely a cool, surreal feeling because we are fortunate to have a lot of good tennis players come through our program,” DeLorme said. “But the reality is there aren’t that many tennis opportunities for kids to go play. One, they have to put in the time and the effort and be skilled enough and, two, they have to be able to devote themselves for another four years after high school. To see how much she enjoys the game and how hard she’s worked, it’s a proud moment for all of us.”

Fettig’s success on the court was immediate and has been consistent. She placed fifth in singles competition as a freshman at both the WDA and state tournaments before shifting to doubles as a sophomore, pairing with Sienna Ronning to place third at WDA. Last year, Fettig returned to singles competition, where she finished runner-up at WDA and third at the state tournament as Minot High’s No. 1 singles player.

“Every year she has added a new part to her game,” DeLorme said. “I would say when she was younger it was a conditioning thing. She took care of that. She’s joined swimming, she’s joined basketball, she runs regularly. In the last couple of years she’s added a new piece every year. I would say as a sophomore, her biggest weakness was her serve. She put the time in on that as a junior and her serve was a weapon. This year, she’s made it a point to work on the mental side of the game and thinking things through a little bit more and you can see the progress on a weekly basis with her. It may be small, minor things, but as you look back to the end of last season to where she is now, she’s just a different player. She’s highly skilled. She’s the hardest worker we have and she’s earned this opportunity.”

Fettig will be a five-year letterwinning this year and is currently a two-time all-state and all-WDA honoree in singles play and was named all-WDA in doubles her sophomore year. She currently sports a 126-27 career record with the Majettes and will serve as a team captain for a second consecutive year.

“It’s a big leadership role, but I still see everyone on the same level even if you’re in a leadership position or not,” Fettig said. “Everybody is just as important and everyone has a role on the team. It’s facilitating that and making sure everyone is involved and has a place on the team.”

DeLorme said that when he chooses a captain, skill on the court doesn’t play a factor in his decision, but rather how they conduct themselves on and off the playing surface.

“It’s easy to say it’s because she’s our best player, but we really don’t go that route,” DeLorme said. “We put it on the kids who we know the other kids look up to and we know they are going to be positive role models not only for her varsity teammates but tennis is a weird sport where we have sixth, seventh and eighth graders with us and it’s somebody who will go down and talk to a sixth grader or a seventh grader and make them feel like a part of the program and Kylllie does that incredibly well. She doesn’t put herself in front of anybody. If they are involved in tennis, she’s going to make sure she knows their name and knows who they are and make them feel good.”

Fettig said her favorite moment during her time with the Majettes was winning the state tournament last year after finishing as runner-up the prior season. Since joining the team in 2022, Minot High is 104-5 overall with four WDA regular season titles, four WDA tournament titles, two state titles and two state runner-up finishes.

“It’s been such a great experience and my coaches are just awesome,” Fettig said. “There’s no way we could do all this without them. A lot of hard work has gone into it with having the drive and motivation since it is an individual sport, but I could not have done it without them and they just make it so much fun.”

Despite all the winning Fettig has done at both the individual and team level, DeLorme said that his No. 1 singles player remains humble.

“She has that level-headed personality,” DeLorme said. “You can joke with her. You can tease her and she’ll give it right back to you. But when she gets on the court in practices and matches, her mindset is she’s going to get better. She’s had some tough ones, but the one thing is she takes those opportunities – as rare as they’ve been for her – and she’ll sit down and think about what changes she needs to make and what adjustments she can make, She’s so good at at making those adjustments on the fly and from match to match and that’s not something you see from every high schooler or tennis player. Oftentimes they go back to their old ways, but Kyllie’s strong enough mentally where she’ll make the necessary adjustment and it’s just very effective for her.”

Fettig still has one goal she’d like to accomplish before the end of her high school career and that’s winning a state individual title. She’ll have to get past West Fargo Sheyenne’s Sarea Gu to achieve that feat, as Gu returns to the Mustangs for her junior season after claiming the state singles title last year.

But Saturday was all about celebrating and Fettig celebrated in the best way she could think of: playing tennis.