By Theodore Tollefson

The Hastings Raiders Girls Volleyball team picked up their first win of the season this past week against South St. Paul High School on Thursday, September 9 after losing their first match of the week against Apple Valley at home on Tuesday, September 7.

The Raiders Volleyball team’s first match of this last week at home against Apple Valley was one of their most competitive of the year so far. During the first set the teams were back and forth in scoring in the early going, but the Apple Valley Eagles were able to get a scoring streak going that had them winning the first set 25-13.

In the second set, the scoring was fairly even and the Raiders had a 14-13 lead at one point. However, disputes between the officials calls and the Raiders and Eagles coaches had the score switch to 16-11 in the Eagles favor. The second set finished in Apple Valley’s favor with a final score of 25-15.

The final set of the match went into Apple Valley’s favor with a final score of 25-19. The final scoring from Tuesday, September 7’s match was 75-47 with a 3-0 sweep by Apple Valley.

The next match the Raiders were finally able to get a break on their three match losing streak to start the season. The Raiders Volleyball team played the South St. Paul Packers on the road on Thursday, September 9.

The Raiders lost the first set of the match against the Packers 25-20, but in the second set they were finally able to get their first set victory of the year in overtime with a score of 31-29. They continued that first set victory into the third, again going into overtime and winning the third set by a score of 26-24. The final tally of the Raiders match against South St. Paul ended up with a 3-1 victory with a total score of 102-97.

Over the weekend, the Raiders had participated in the Aerie Challenge Varsity Tournament at Apple Valley High School. The Raiders Volleyball team played in three matches, two on Friday, September 10 and one on Saturday, September 11. With the matches being a part of a tournament, teams only needed to win two sets to win the match overall.

The first match of the tournament for the Raiders was against Concordia Academy. Concordia Academy put up a lopsided victory against the Raiders in the first set of their match winning that one 25-3. Concordia Academy was able to walk away with a 2-0 victory in the second set winning that one by a more fair score of 25-10, making the overall score 50-13.

The second match of the tournament for Hastings was scheduled against Cretin-Derham Hall. The Raiders fared much better in the first set of their match against Cretin-Derham than against Concordia. Cretin-Derham still won the first set by a score of 25-15. The second set was the Raiders highest scoring on Friday, but they still lost the set and match to Cretin-Derham 25-20. The final scoring of the match was 2-0, Cretin-Derham with an overall score of 50-35.

The Raiders’ match on Saturday to conclude the tournament was against the neighbor of Hibbing, MN, Virginia High School. The Raiders opened the first set of their match against Virginia with a losing score of 25-12 and met a much more devastating score in the second set, losing 25-1. Virginia High School’s Girls Volleyball team won the match by an overall score of 50-13.

The Raiders currently stand at 1-6 on the season overall, and 1-0 in Metro East conference play. The Raiders will have played their next match against Cannon Falls High School on Tuesday, September 14 by the time of publishing and will play again today, Thursday, September 16 against the Simley Spartans for their second Metro East conference match of the season.

Megan Meyer sneaks a point over the net for a point against the Eagles. Photo by Theodore Tollefson

The Hastings Raiders student section showed up in numbers and neon for the Raiders Volleyball match against Apple Valley on Tuesday, September 7. Photo by Theodore Tollefson

Emma Kimmen sets a serve for the Raiders against Apple Valley. Photo by Theodore Tollefson