The Raider girl’s tennis team switched to individual mode hoping to send singles and doubles to the state meet. On the doubles side, Hastings sent Brooklyn and Reese Keller as one duo and Julia Rotty and Evy Hogan as another duo. On the singles side, Jenna Brommerich and Emery Hedeen represented Hastings.
Unfortunately for Hedeen and Brommerich, they were eliminated in the first round. Hedeen faced Tiffany Tran from Harding/Como, and she fell 6-1 and 6-4. Brommerich drew Alexis Olson from Rosemount and fell 6-1 and 6-2. Eagan’s Cassandra Li took home the Section 3AA Championship again
On the doubles side, the team of Rotty and Hogan drew the fourth-best team in the bracket, Selma Vander Linden and Mariana Velasquez from East Ridge. Hastings was defeated 6-0 and 6-1.
That left the Keller sisters looking to repeat as section champions. The dynamic duo from Hastings earned a first-round bye due to their seeding and they faced Olivia Evans and Madison Brinkman of Park in round two. They came out of round two unscathed, winning 6-1 and 6-3.
In round three, they took on Serenity Vang and Gaozhia Vue from Harding/Como Co-Op defeating them 6-0 and 6-1. The semi-finals were a battle of sisters. Brooklyn and Reese Keller for Hastings against South St. Paul’s Annie and Grace Spreigl. Brooklyn and Reese dominated the sister matchup winning 6-2 and 6-0 to move to the championship match.
There, the duo faced their toughest challenge of the tournament facing East Ridge’s Paige Heideman and Anne Benjamin. In 2023, Benjamin was partnered with Vande Linden and that duo took second place in Section 3AA losing to Brooklyn and Reese 6-1 and 6-3.
This year, the duo from East Ridge gave the Kellers a bit more trouble. Hastings took the first set 6-3 and East Ridge stormed right back in the second set to win 6-3. With such a balanced set of games going, the Section 3AA championship could have gone to either duo, but the pairing of Brooklyn and Reese Keller was just too strong for the East Ridge team and Hastings took the final set 6-3 to earn their second doubles championship for Section 3AA punching their ticket to the state meet.
Heideman and Benjamin went on to beat the Spreigl sisters for true second and the Spreigls defeated Vander Linden and Velasquez for third place.
With the Section 3AA title, Reese and Brooklyn will move on to the state tournament October 24 and 25. The first round starts at 10:00 a.m. on Thursday, then Quarterfinals and Consolation Round 1 at 2:00 p.m. Friday, the Semifinal and Consolation Semifinal round starts at 8:00 a.m. with the Third place, Championship and Consolation Championship taking place at 11:30 a.m.
All Class AA matches are held on the University of Minnesota campus at the Baseline Tennis Center at 1815 4th St. SE in Minneapolis. A pro tip for parking is to use the lot behind the building which is UMN Lot 37 if you use Google Maps. The Baseline Tennis Center is the same foyer as Ridder Arena.