Raiders win volleyball season opener

So far, so good. That’s the story for the Hastings volleyball team, which began its season Friday with a win in three games over St. Louis Park.

Hastings won 25-10, 25-22 and 25-18.

“Everything went right for us,” coach Rita Girgen said. “Offensively, we took care of the ball. Defensively, we did a really good job reading things and making great plays.”

Girgen was able to rotate in every player on the team, a big accomplishment the Raiders savored.

“That’s usually something we’re only able to do on senior night,” Girgen said. “To start that way is really exciting. It was the first varsity match for some of the girls.”

Hastings had its sophomore and junior varsity teams also win their opening match.

“That was pretty exciting to be able to pull that off on the first night,” Girgen said. “We’re excited, as a program, to start with a full sweep. We’re super excited going into the rest of the season. We have some really good things going for us.”

One of the highlights against St. Louis Park was the Hastings serving game.

“Our serving was really aggressive,” Girgen said. “By doing that, we were able to take St. Louis Park out of their system. That was a big focus for us, and will be for the whole season.”

Devon Santelman, one of the team’s captains, had an especially strong night on the court, Girgen said.

“She played well offensively and defensively for us,” she said. “She kept the ball in play. She made great things happen because of her efforts out there.”

Biancca DuFour led the team with nine kills. Heather Petersen had four.

Kaylyn Nicklay led the way in set assists with 17.

Cydney Lovich had two block assists. Petersen and Grace Rolloff each had one.

Nicklay had four service aces.

Rolloff had 12 serving points. Nicklay had 10 and Shelby Wassink had six.

Santelman led the team in serve receive average, coming in at 2.08. DuFour had an average of 1.56.

Santelman had 17 digs to lead the team. Nicklay had nine.

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