By Bruce Karnick The Girls Tennis team faced their toughest opponent of the season on Tuesday September 8th at home when the Zephyrs came to town. Before the matches started, Coach Welch was very complimentary of the girls from Mahtomedi and said that they would be a very tough test for her undefeated Raiders. And a tough test they were. In the end, Mahtomedi would give the Raiders their first team loss of the season by winning every match.

The results: MAHTOMEDI SENIOR HIGH – 7, HASTINGS HIGH SCHOOL – 0, Singles: No. 1 – Lauren Splett, MAHTOMEDI SENIOR HIGH def. Anri Sakakibara, HASTINGS HIGH SCHOOL, 6-0 , 6-1 , -; No. 2 – Annika Munson, MAHTOMEDI SENIOR HIGH def. Claire Keller, HASTINGS HIGH SCHOOL, 6-1 , 6-1 , -; No. 3 – Mari Meger, MAHTOMEDI SENIOR HIGH def. Molly Moran, HASTINGS HIGH SCHOOL, 6-1 , 6-0 , -; No. 4 – Hanna Bradt, MAHTOMEDI SENIOR HIGH def. Gracyn Rose, HASTINGS HIGH SCHOOL, 6-2 , 6-0 , -; Doubles: No. 1 – Liv Kent, MAHTOMEDI SENIOR HIGH – Nina Vander Louw, MAHTOMEDI SENIOR HIGH def. Skylar Tjomsland, HASTINGS HIGH SCHOOL – Mya Green, HASTINGS HIGH SCHOOL, 6-2 , 7-5 , -; No. 2 – Campbell Albers, MAHTOMEDI SENIOR HIGH – Alayna Schwieters, MAHTOMEDI SENIOR HIGH def. Erika Henrichs, HASTINGS HIGH SCHOOL – Audrey Langworthy, HASTINGS HIGH SCHOOL, 7-6 , 7-6 , -; No. 3 – Sonya Potthoff, MAHTOMEDI SENIOR HIGH – Kayla Meslow, MAHTOMEDI SENIOR HIGH def. Charlotte Kranz, HASTINGS HIGH SCHOOL – Autumn Winkler, HASTINGS HIGH SCHOOL, 7-6 , 6-3 , -; After the match concluded, Coach Welch had this to say. “Mahtomedi is a very tough opponent. The girls played awesome! Doubles fought tooth and nail. Everyone played with heart and grace and I couldn’t have asked for anything more!” With a coach leading from the side of positivity, it’s easy to see why the girls respect her and play so hard for her.

Hastings travelled to Simley on Thursday September 10th and unfortunately, they were not able to stop a losing streak before it got started. The Raiders fell to the Spartans 4-3 in hard fought, close set of matches.

Singles: No. 1 – Clara Thoemke, SIMLEY SENIOR HIGH def. Anri Sakakibara, HASTINGS HIGH SCHOOL, 7-6 (75), 5-7 , 6-1 ; No. 2 – Sarah Borchard, SIMLEY SENIOR HIGH def. Claire Keller, HASTINGS HIGH SCHOOL, 6-1 , 4-6 , 6-1 ; No. 3 – Leah Thoemke, SIMLEY SENIOR HIGH def. Gracyn Rose, HASTINGS HIGH SCHOOL, 6-3 , 7-5 , -; No. 4 – Autumn Winkler, HASTINGS HIGH SCHOOL def. Keira Schmid, SIMLEY SENIOR HIGH, 6-4 , 2-6 , 6-3 ; Doubles: No. 1 – Erin Borchard, SIMLEY SENIOR HIGH -Cayla Friemann, SIMLEY SENIOR HIGH def. Skylar Tjomsland, HASTINGS HIGH SCHOOL – Mya Green, HASTINGS HIGH SCHOOL, 6-0 , 6-3 , -; No. 2 – Erika Henrichs, HASTINGS HIGH SCHOOL – Audrey Langworthy, HASTINGS HIGH SCHOOL def. Ellie Johnson, SIMLEY SENIOR HIGH – Chrissa Muller, SIMLEY SENIOR HIGH, 6-4 , 6-4 , -; No. 3 – Charlotte Kranz, HASTINGS HIGH SCHOOL – Molly Moran, HASTINGS HIGH SCHOOL def. Cailynn Thomas, SIMLEY SENIOR HIGH – Ali Loomis, SIMLEY SENIOR HIGH, 6-3 , 6-4 , -; If you are a parent of a Raider player, you are always welcome to email stats, storylines, etc. to [email protected] news. We try to get to as many events as we can, but unfortunately, we cannot make them all.

Up next for the girls, 9/15 at Hill-Murray and 9/17 Starts the Conference Championships. GOOD LUCK LADIES!