The CDH Girls Tennis team completed its most successful season in the past nine years, finishing the season 17-10. The team finished tied for third in the challenging Suburban East Conference, with a record of 6-3, including impressive wins over Stillwater and Roseville, teams CDH hadn’t beaten in quite some time.  Early in the year, the team won its own tournament on August 19, defeating Henry Sibley, Rosemount, and Highland Park. Three days later, on August 22, they won the South St. Paul Invitational with identical 4-3 victories over Harding, South St. Paul and Visitation. 

The team was led by Lily Cade '23, #1 singles, and Morgan Redden '23, #2 singles.  Both players went 22-8 over the course of the year, a really remarkable result, given the difficulty of the schedule. 

Captains Margaret Musolf '20, Kyra Davis '20, and Laura Seifert '20 provided great leadership. Charlotte Budge '20, Caroline Peterson '20, Annie Green '20, Ellie Keogan '20, and Meghan McSherry '20 rounded out the talented group of seniors.  Their leadership and talent will be difficult to replace next season.

Anna Holm '22 and Audrey Graham '22 were very productive at #3 and #4 singles. Lily Hannahan '21 (#4 singles), Ella Klein '21 and Emma Radenbaugh '21 (#1 and #2 doubles) provided much-needed wins at their lineup positions. Lily Cade and Morgan Redden earned All-Conference awards, and Ella Klein and Kyra Davis were All-Conference Honorable Mention.

Despite losing eight seniors, the Raiders return seven talented and experienced players for next season. The future looks bright for the Raider Girls Tennis team.  

The Raiders were awarded the 4th seed in the Team Section Tournament by virtue of their impressive regular season. The 4th seed gave the team two byes into the quarterfinals. After a very rainy week, the Raiders hosted Henry Sibley, a team CDH had defeated 6-1 in the CDH tournament in August. Sibley welcomed back their #2 singles player, who had been injured in the first meeting. Her presence made quite a difference, but the Raiders were still able to pull out a hard-fought 6-1 win. 

Lily Cade and Audrey Graham won singles matches by identical 6-0, 6-0 scores.  Morgan Redden ground out a difficult 7-5, 6-4 win at #2 singles. CDH swept the doubles matches, but all were challenging. Ella Klein and Kyra Davis at #1 doubles overcame a tough loss in a second-set tiebreaker to roll through the third set 6-2. Margaret Musolf and Annie Green at #3 doubles played well in a 6-4, 6-3 win. Laura Seifert and Emma Radenbaugh had the comeback of the day, as they erased an early first-set 1-5 deficit to win the next six games to take the first set 7-5.  Sibley rallied to win the second set, forcing a deciding super tiebreaker, which was a back-and-forth affair. Seifert and Radenbaugh were able to get the final two points to win 7-5. 5-7, (10-8). Their two-hour match was decided by those final points. The fact that a match can be decided by the slimmest of margins is both the beauty and challenge of tennis.

The Sibley victory propelled the Raiders into the section semi-finals at East Ridge vs. Woodbury, the top seed. Despite playing well, Woodbury was clearly the superior team, as CDH fell 7-0.  Still, getting to the semi-finals was a great accomplishment and one that hadn’t been accomplished by a CDH team since 2011. By every measure, the Raider girls’ tennis team had an extremely successful season, both in the regular and postseason.  

On Friday, October 11 ninety-six players from the sixteen Section 3AA teams gathered at Lifetime Fitness in Lakeville for the Section 3AA Individual Tournament. Each team entered six players, two in singles and two doubles teams. It’s an exciting day and it never fails to provide some exciting matches. This year was no exception. Lily Cade and Morgan Redden represented CDH in singles, while the doubles teams were Kyra Davis/Ella Klein and Audrey Graham/Anna Holm. 

Graham/Holm: In the first round, Audrey and Anna went up against Park-Cottage Grove’s top doubles entrant. Understandably, both teams were tight during the first set, with CDH making fewer errors to take the set 6-1. In the second set, the teams settled in and played at a higher level. Park took that set 6-4. The deciding third set was a back-and-forth affair, with every game going to deuce. Park proved to be better on most of those points and was able to pull out a 1-6, 6-4, 6-1 victory. Audrey and Anna had great seasons, despite this outcome. With two more seasons left in their CDH careers, the sky is the limit for these two.

Davis/Klein: Kyra and Ella had an extremely difficult first-round opponent, Highland Park’s top singles players. It’s not unusual for singles players to form doubles teams in the individual tournament. All four players were extremely athletic and put on an entertaining display of shot-making tennis. CDH took a competitive first set 6-4. The Highland Park team regrouped and rolled in the second set 6-2. The deciding third set gave CDH an opportunity to play its best tennis to date, as they rebounded to win 6-4, 2-6, 6-2. The second-round opponents were the 6th seeded team from Woodbury, who simply proved to be too tough. Kyra and Ella fought hard, played competitive points but simply could not crack the Woodbury team, as Woodbury won 6-3, 6-0. Kyra finished a great senior season in the top 16 doubles players in the section. Ella, while also finishing in the top 16 in the section, will have a chance next year to return to the individual tournament and give it another run. 

Morgan Redden: Being unseeded puts a player at the mercy of the luck of the draw. Morgan’s draw was decent, but not great, as she was in the same section as the top seed. Her first-round opponent was Central’s regular #3 player, who she beat 6-0, 6-0. The second-round foe was Eagan’s #1 player, a very experienced competitor. The first set went to a tiebreaker, which Morgan won 7-4, and she then rolled through the second set to win 7-6, 6-1. Her third match of the day found her across the net from the top seed from Woodbury. Morgan more than held her own, but the Woodbury senior had too much game, as Morgan lost 6-0, 6-0. Still, Morgan had an amazing season, finishing in the top eight in the section in singles and going 22-8 overall. The future looks bright for her.

Lily Cade: Lily was awarded the 3rd seed in the tournament, reflecting the great regular season she had. Her first-round went quickly against Humboldt, as Lily won 6-0, 6-0. The score was almost identical in the second-round against Highland Park, as Lily won 6-0, 6-1. The quarterfinal matchup sent Lily up against Kate Townsend from Park-Cottage Grove, the tournament’s 6th seed. The two had met earlier in the year with Lily winning fairly easily. Today was different, as Townsend showed her fight and talent. Even though it was a tough battle, Lily prevailed 6-3, 7-5, winning the final four games in the second set to close out the match. The win propelled Lily to the semi-finals, the first CDH singles player in quite a few years to advance to that round.

Ninth-grader Lily Cade completed the best individual singles performance by a CDH tennis player since 2010, finishing third in the 2019 3AA Individual Tournament.

Semi-finals: Lily took on Amanye Reynolds from Harding, a player to whom Lily had lost earlier in the year. In the first set, both players were nervous, but the experience Reynolds has as a senior paid off for her today. Reynolds rolled through an error-filled first set to win 6-1. She looked to be in total control up 4-1 in the second set before Lily started to settle in and play her game. Down 2-5, Lily rallied to get to 4-5, with a point for 5-all. Reynolds proved her toughness to erase that point and win the game to take the match 6-1, 6-4. Had Lily gotten to 5-all, the result may have been different, but the result in tennis is often decided by a few points, and today was no different.

3rd-Place: Lily recovered from the disappointment of the semi-final match to play one her best matches of the year in the 3rd-Place match. Facing Sonya Ramesh from Rosemount, a player Lily narrowly defeated in the CDH tournament in August, Lily brought her best and most focused tennis. Using a blistering and consistent first-serve, solid and powerful groundstrokes and an effective net game, Lily was able to keep Ramesh on her heels. Ramesh is an amazing athlete and a gifted tennis player, but Lily was able to play at a slightly higher level for the entire match to pull out a 6-3, 6-2 win. By finishing 3rd, Lily stamped herself as one of the favorites for the 2020 section season, as the top two finishers are seniors. While there are no guarantees, Lily should be in the mix again next year for the individual section championship. Finishing 3rd did not qualify Lily for the State Tournament, but it gives an indication as to her potential. The last time a Raider won the individual section singles title was 2010, and no other Raider has finished higher than 4th in singles since then, so Lily’s 3rd-place finish may be a springboard to even more lofty outcomes in the future. Lily finished the year 23-9, a truly amazing result, given the tough competition she faced all year. Congratulations on a great season.