By Bruce Karnick

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The Raiders girl’s tennis season is underway after a great opening week, the girls started 20 with huge wins over Farmington and East Ridge. The first victory of the season came at the season opener against Farmington.

Hastings – 6, Farmington – 1.

Singles: No. 1 – Claire Keller, Hastings def. Kailyn Heath, Farmington, 6-2, 6-1 No. 2 – Reese Keller, Hastings def. Taylor Rondo, Farmington, 7-6, 6-0 No. 3 – Brooklyn Keller, Hastings def. Julia Cashman, Farmington, 6-0, 6-0 No. 4 – Autumn Winkler, Hastings def. Shayla Draper, Farmington, 6-3, 6-4 Doubles:

No. 1 – Mikayla Schuster, Jade Lindgren, Hastings def. Addisyn Patrida, Amaza Burggaaff, Farmington, 6-4, 6-1 No. 2 – Ruby Rotty, Brooke Jelley, Hastings def. Ellie Partington, Hannah Rodgers, Farmington, 6-2, 6-1 No. 3 – Kate Kragness, Lauren Flemin, Farmington def. Amber Keller, Ella Dohmen, Hastings, 3-6, 6-4, 7-5

After a solid start to the season, the Raiders had an opportunity to test lineup configurations for doubles in their invitational against East Ridge and Rosemount. Head Coach Marissa Welch was excited for the way the week played out and how the girls stepped up big.

“We are very strong in singles and our doubles are still looking for the right partner pairings,” explained Welch. “The girls are all awesome and very coachable!”

The coachable piece is so important in high school sports, especially at the earlier stages of the kid’s sports career. The development of their skills in middle school and as they first enter high school is vital. Having a great foundation of skills allows the varsity coaches fine tune those skills.

The immediate challenge Welch faces is finding the right pairing of girls in their doubles. The communication required in the doubles game is the tricky part for new doubles players. Once that is established, the trust and knowledge of what your partner is going to do is the next step to become a great doubles team.

At the Hastings invite, Hastings first took on East Ridge and won.

East Ridge – 3, Hastings – 4. Singles:

No. 1 – Claire Keller, Hastings def. Taylor Mares, East Ridge, 6-1, 6-2 No. 2 – Reese Keller, Hastings def. Paige Heideman, East Ridge, 4-6, 7-5, 10-7 No. 3 – Brooklyn Keller, Hastings def. Anne Benjamin, East Ridge, 6-2, 6-3 No. 4 – Autumn Winkler, Hastings def. Anjali Nambudiri, East Ridge, 6-0, 6-1 Doubles:

No. 1 – Megan Clark, Selma Vander Linden, East Ridge def. Mikayla Schuster, Jade Lindgren, Hastings, 7-5, 6-2 No. 2 – Lindsay Otte, Sierra Ma, East Ridge def. Ruby Rotty, Brooke Jelley, Hastings, 6-2, 6-3 No. 3 – Hannah Sandberg, Abby Davis, East Ridge def. Amber Keller, Ella Dohmen, Hastings, 6-4, 6-0 After the East Ridge matches, Hastings faced Rosemount and despite their best efforts, fell by one match.

Rosemount – 4, Hastings – 3. Singles: No. 1 – Claire Keller, Hastings def. Emily Hopke, Rosemount, 6-0, 6-0 No. 2 – Riley Johnson, Rosemount def. Jade Lindgren, Hastings, 6-1, 6-1 No. 3 – Kayla Christianson, Rosemount def. Brooke Jelley, Hastings, 6-3, 6-3 No. 4 – Neha Chetty, Rosemount def. Ella Dohmen, Hastings, 6-3, 6-0 Doubles:

No. 1 – Brooklyn Keller, Reese Keller, Hastings def. Olivia Bills, Anna Jahn, Rosemount, 6-2, 6-0 No. 2 – Mikayla Schuster, Autumn Winkler, Hastings def. Ally Agpalasin, Prajna Hosamane, Rosemount, 6-2, 6-1 No. 3 – Riley Prasil, Kiara Avenido, Rosemount def. Ruby Rotty, Amber Keller, Hastings, 6-2, 1-6, 10-5

With the loss to Rosemount at the second half of the invite, the Raiders fell to 21 on the young season and moved to take on Roseville at home Monday.

Monday on the hill was a windy and warm one as Hastings took on Roseville. The wind did not seem to bother the girls and Roseville was going to be their biggest challenge of the season yet. Claire Keller kept her unbeaten streak going at the number one singles spot defeating Marit Haugen 76 and 62. The second singles player, Reese Keller fell to Lucy Sundberg 36, 63, 63 but the youngest Keller, Brooklyn won her third singles match against Madeline Bergerson, 63, 63. Autum Winkler fell 62 and 75 to Minseo Kim.

The quest for the right doubles pairing did not bear fruit for Hastings this week with all three doubles teams falling in straight sets. Ruby Rotty and Mikayla Schuster fell 62, 63. Brooke Jelley and Jade Lindgren fell 63, 62. Ella Dohmen and Amber Keller fell 76 and 62.

At 22 the Raiders will take on Eastview on September 2 at home. The schedule says 3:30 p.m. but that has often been the start of warmups with the actual match starting closer to 4 or 4:15 p.m. Then the girls get a few days off from matches and will host Lakeville North on September 7, also at 3:30 p.m..