The high school tennis season seems to always be the shortest seasons each fall for the girls and spring for the boys. They play two to three matches a week and all of a sudden, it’s playo昀s and state tournament time. This season felt exceptionally quick with the 昀rst day of practice in mid-August and the state tournament ending on October 28. But Head Coach Marissa Welch is used to the quick season.

For the regular season, Hastings went 10-8 earning wins against Farmington, Eagan, Eastview, Simley, Park and more. The challenge for the Raiders throughout the season was 昀nding doubles pairings that gelled together very well. Yes, Hastings had some very good doubles play this fall, but, like all sports, there are always tweaks and improvements that can be made. There may be pairings that seemed odd, but they needed to be tested in actual match play to see how they 昀t.

The wins and losses seemed to come in streaks. They would pop o昀 three wins in a row and then drop three in a row, which also happens a lot in high school sports. Coaches will always say they try to string more wins together and try to break the losing streaks quicker.

At 10-8 on the regular season, Hastings had two 昀rst round byes in the section tournament, so they were matched up with Eagan as their 昀rst tournament opponent. The two teams played each other twice during the regular season, with Hastings winning the 昀rst meeting 4-3 and Eagan winning the second 4-3. That meant the third meeting could truly go either way and unfortunately it went the way of Eagan, ending the teams run for state.

That turned the focus on to the Singles and Doubles Tournament. Hastings had Jade Lindgren and Claire Keller on the singles side. Unfortunately, Lindgren drew Cassandra Li from Eagan, the number one seed in singles, so she was eliminated in the 昀rst round. Keller however powered her way to a state tournament appearance.

On the doubles side, Hastings had the pair of Autumn Winkler and Mikayla Schuster as one of the pairings and Reese and Brooklyn Keller as the other pair. Winkler and Schuster won their 昀rstround match but were then eliminated by the 昀fth seed from Harding Senior High. The Keller’s enacted revenge for their teammates, eliminating the Harding Senior High duo and claiming second place to go to state.

At state, Claire had the hardest draw of the tournament to start, the eventual runner up from Minnetonka. Claire did win her 昀rst match in the consolation bracket but was eliminated in round two. Her sisters had similar di_culties in the 昀rst round of the championship side of the bracket, losing to the eventual state champions for doubles. They were eliminated in the 昀rst round of the consolation bracket.

The team performed well together and appeared to be having fun all season long. The matches were high energy and the kids fought hard in every match no matter what.

Congratulations on a great season.