By Bruce Karnick

It’s hard to believe that August 17th, roughly 45 days ago (depending on when you read this), the Raider Ladies stepped on to the court officially for the first time of the 2020 season. Yet here they are, already preparing for the Section meet. After finishing 4-3 in the regular season and 1-2 in the Conference Championships, 12 Varsity athletes will continue to work toward winning at sections. “Today is Fun Friday, as it is every Friday. Next week practice is mandatory for only the 12 that will play in sections, but the courts are open for the rest of the team to continue to hit if they would like!” Head Coach Marissa Welch said Friday morning.

“We will have a week of practice before sections start the week of October 5. They are also doing a consolation tournament this year with sections too which they have never done before.”

Last week, the Raiders travelled to Inver Grove to take on the Spartans where they fell 4-3. Looking back on the Simley matches, Welch recapped, “The girls have really united as a team during these playoff matches. We ramped up our consistency, doubles positioning and strategy, and singles shot selection and strategy. The girls did great with that!” During Tuesdays matches, the girls looked a little nervous “If they got nervous on Tuesday – they were getting those yips out, if they hit pretty well Tuesday, they were using those strokes and trying to make them even bigger and better at practice.”

SIMLEY- 4, HASTINGS – 3, Singles: No. 1 – Clara Thoemke, SIMLEY def. Anri Sakakibara, HASTINGS, 3-6 , 7-6 (75), 6-2 ; No. 2 – Sarah Borchard, SIMLEY def. Charlotte Kranz, HASTINGS, 6-0 , 6-1 , -; No. 3 – Claire Keller, HASTINGS def. Leah Thoemke, SIMLEY, 7-5 , 7-5 , -; No. 4 – Autumn Winkler, HASTINGS def. Keira Schmid, SIMLEY, 6-3 , 6-0 , -; Doubles: No. 1 – Cayla Friemann, SIMLEY- Erin Borchard, SIMLEYdef. Skylar Tjomsland, HASTINGS – Mya Green, HASTINGS, 2-6 , 6-1 , 6-2 ; No. 2 – Chrissa Muller, SIMLEY- Ellie Johnson, SIMLEYdef. Audrey Langworthy, HASTINGS – Erika Henrichs, HASTINGS, 6-2 , 5-7 , 6-2 ; No. 3 – Chloe Konrady, HASTINGS – Ellie Haas, HASTINGS def. Cailynn Thomas, SIMLEY- Ali Loomis, SIMLEY SENIOR HIGH, 5-7 , 7-5 , 7-6 (72); “After the tough loss against Simley we just fine tuned – we went through all of the shots in our toolbox and used and refined them.” Welch stated. “The girls really dug in and worked hard on Wednesday at practice. They were ready for HM. We will continue to focus on all those things going into sections. If it sounds like a big list, it is really not – just fine tuning.” The Raiders defeated Hill Murray 4-3 in another round of hard fought matches.

Hill Murray – 3, HASTINGS – 4, Singles: No. 1 – Anri Sakakibara, HASTINGS def. Sami Young, Hill Murray, 6-0 , 6-0 , -; No. 2 – Charlotte Kranz, HASTINGS def. Olivia Katz, Hill Murray, 6-1 , 6-0 , -; No. 3 – Claire Rubischko, Hill Murray def. Molly Moran, HASTINGS, 7-5 , 3-6 , 10-3 ; No. 4 – McKenna Foley, Hill Murray def. Gracyn Rose, HASTINGS, 6-1 , 6-4 , -; Doubles: No. 1 – Payton Cahill, Loralai VanGuilder, Hill Murray def. Skylar Tjomsland, Mya Green, , 6-0 , 7-6 (86), -; No. 2 – Erika Henrichs, Audrey Langworthy, HASTINGS def. Elizabeth Lafeber, Emma Vaske, Hill Murray, 6-0 , 6-2 , -; No. 3 – Claire Keller, Autumn Winkler, HASTINGS def. Olivia Klepec, Ella Netland, Hill Murray, 6-1 , 7-5 , -; Sections begins October 5th and Coach Welch is waiting for details regarding the schedule. In the meantime, the Raiders will move forward as planned, “We will have our season wrap-up and senior sendoff on Oct 2. I’m really looking forward to that as we are doing something new to honor our seniors this year!! It will be the start of a tradition going forward.” Coach Welch finished with. Good skill at sections ladies!

Head Coach Marissa Welch discusses strategy with Number 2 Singles player Charlotte Kranz during the September 22nd match at Simley. Kranz fought hard and kept individual games very close, but ultimately fell 6-0 and 6-1 to Sarah Borchard. Photo by Bruce Karnick