With the team competition over for the Hastings Raiders, focus shifted to the individual side of the events. Singles and Doubles players fought for section spots, and three Raiders persevered through the Section meet, Claire, Reese and Brooklyn Keller.

Hastings had struggled throughout the year finding the ideal pairing for doubles. The pairings began to solidify near the end of the season, and the doubles nearly carried Hastings past the first round of the team playoffs. With the individual tournament, Hastings had two pairs, Reese and Brooklyn Keller as a team and Autumn Winkler and Mikayla Schuster as another team, in a 32-team, single elimination bracket.

The unranked duo of Winker and Schuster easily defeated the duo from St. Paul Central in round one by a score of 6-0 and 6-1. They then faced the number five seeded sister duo of Vivian and Klarissa Her from Harding. Winkler and Schuster lost 6-3 and 6-2 and were eliminated from the tournament. The team from Harding eventually faced off against the Keller duo of Hastings for true second.

The third-ranked Brooklyn and Reese Keller duo started the tournament against unranked Rosemount, defeating them 6-1 and 6-2. The Kellers then shutout Tartan’s unranked duo of Elliotte Robitaille and Liliana Martinson 6-0 and 6-0. The third round was a repeat of the second round against East Ridge’s Anne Benjamin and Lidsay Otte, 6-0 and 6-0.

The semifinal round proved to be one of the more difficult matches for Reese and Brooklyn where they faced Lauren Bauer and Malia Meyer of South St. Paul. Hastings took the first set 6-3 but then fell in the second set 6-7 (5) before coming back and winning the third set 7-5.

The championship round had the Raiders duo facing off against the number one ranked duo of Brittney Nguyen and Ashley Nguyen from Woodbury. The Royals duo took down Hastings 6-2 and 7-6, forcing Hastings to face off against Vivian and Klarissa Her for true second. The Keller duo won that 7-5 and 6-0 and punched their ticket to state.

On the singles side of things, Hastings had two contenders as well, Jade Lindgren and Claire Keller. Lindgren had the toughest draw of the tournament, kicking things off in round one against the Raiders single crusher, Cassandra Li of Eagan. Li always seems to have her way with any Raider she faces and unfortunately for Lindgren, that did not change. Li won in shutout fashion 6-0 and 6-0 eliminating Lindgren from the tournament.

Claire Keller was ranked third and ended up on the other side of the bracket, setting the stage for an epic Section Championship match if Keller could fight her way through the field of 32. Keller blanked her first two opponents, Madysen Krone of South St. Paul and Elise Naidl of Woodbury, beating them both 6-0, 6-0.

In round three against East Ridge’s Taylor Mares, Keller won 6-1, 6-1. Keller faced number two-ranked Morgan Redden from Cretin-Derham Hall, which was her toughest match at that point in the tournament. Keller won 7-6 (4) and 6-3 to move onto the Championship. Her opponent? Cassandra Li. Li wasted no time continuing to play the role of Raider crusher for 2023, defeating Keller 6-0 and 6-1.

With the second place finishes by both Claire in the singles and Brooklyn and Reese in doubles, all three will participate in the State Tennis Tournament at the Baseline Tennis Center at the University of Minnesota Campus in Minneapolis.

Claire will start her singles journey at 8 a.m on Thursday, Oct. 27. Brooklyn and Reese will start later that morning at 10 a.m. Seating is limited, so get there early and cheer loud! Good Luck Raiders!