Raiders Volleyball host Hastings Invitational for first time in years

by Theodore Tollefson

The Raiders girls volleyball team had its busiest match schedule for the season this past week as it hosted the Hastings Invitational on Saturday, Sept. 25. Prior to the invitational, the Raiders had two matches in the week, one on the road against Two Rivers and one at home against North St. Paul.

The match against Two Rivers was a low-scoring affair for the Raiders, as they only scored seven points in the first set. Two Rivers won the first set 257. The second set saw a few more points gained, but they lost that one as well 25-11. The final set saw a score of 25-14. Two Rivers completed the sweep against the Raiders with a final score of 75-32. This brought the Raiders overall record to 1-9 on the season.

Thursday’s home match against the North St. Paul Polars was one of the most competitive matches the Raiders have had on the season. The match saw the return of senior Lilly Nuytten who had not played in a match due to injury since the start of the season.

The first set was a strong back and forth between the Polars and Raiders, but the Polars had the upper hand at the end of the set ending it with a final score of 25-18. The second set saw a strong opening from the Raiders, but the Polars caught up and ended the second set in a 25-14 score.

The Raiders had a huge break for themselves with the third set of the match, winning with a score of 25-20 over the Polars. The strong momentum gained by the Raiders each set leading up to the fourth was not enough for them to come back and defeat the Polars. The Polars won the final set of the match 258, with a 3-1 record in the match and a final score of 95-65.

After the match, Head Coach Anne Korenchen spoke on the improvements the girls made on the court from the match.

“I think anytime that we can take a win from any team it’s a huge morale booster,” Korenchen said. “We just work on pushing every single day and when those little rewards start coming our way, it’s just, it’s sweet.”

The Raiders hosted an invitational for eight different schools from throughout the metro area on Saturday. Korenchen spoke about hosting the invitational after a year of absence from tournaments due to COVID-19.

“I think we’re just looking for more competition than we can compete with. We’re just looking forward to being able to play a tournament on our home court. Number one, not very often that you get to play in an all-day tournament, and you get to have home field advantage. So just having that home field advantage, being able to have people come out and support, that’ll be huge for the girls,” said Korenchen before the tourney.

The first match for Hastings was against St. Croix Lutheran and resulted in a 50-26 loss in a 2-0 sweep. The Raiders’ second match was against St. Paul Central and was another loss for them, losing the match 50-22. Up third, the Raiders took on Anoka High School, but the Raiders lost by a score of 50-29 in two sets. Finally, they played Visitation Prep, which turned out to be the Raiders’ highest scoring match of the afternoon, but resulted in a 50-41 loss, putting their final record of the tournament at 0-4.

The team has a conference record of 1-3 on the season and an overall record of 1-14 on the year. This week, the Raiders have one match on their schedule on the road against Mahtomedi High School at 7 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 30.

Meyer sets up a kill that lands and scores a point for the Raiders against the Polars. Photo by Theodore Tollefson