It’s a tough way to start a season, playing three games on the first day.

However, as players always learn, you play the schedule set up for you.

The L-N Lady Raiders did that last Saturday when they traveled west to Axtell to take part in their season opening tournament.

And . . . they came home winning two of the three games, losing only to Class D-1 Alma in the opening game. The team regrouped quickly and defeated Silver Lake and Palmer.

A brief rundown of the games follow:

L-N – ALMA: 18-25, 18-25: First games of any sport in any season are difficult and playing a larger school make the problem even more interesting. Alma put a strong team on the floor and the Raiders were just not able to sustain a solid attack against them. Overall, the local girls gave a good account, but Alma had just a little better game and won the match.

Game statistics: (Kills – Ace – Digs)

Hanna Skinner 0, 0, 13; Elsa Jorgensen 0, 1, 13; Emma Epley 3, 3, 8; Aleah Heikkinen 4, 0, 8; Kara Menke 2, 0, 2; Emily Troudt 0, 1, 4; Kylie Beard 2, 0, 1; Katelyn Mazour 1, 0, 7; Sydney Biltoft 2, 0, 0.

Assists: Katelyn 7, Emma 3, Elsa, Aleah, Kylie, 1 each.

Blocks: zero blocks for the game.

Serve Receive: As a team 35 of 38 with Elsa having 11 of 12 good and Aleah 11 of 11 as leaders in this area.

L-N – SILVER LAKE: 25-9, 20-25, 25-22: The Raider’s second game immediately followed the first but they were able to get the tournament action put in a better light by winning two of the three sets.

It’s difficult to determine exactly what caused the turnaround, however, the overall play improved and looking at the statistics, that is evident. Granted this game was three sets, but the Raiders had 33 kills in this game more than doubling the Alma game and Emma and Aleah each recorded nine kills.

The girls had only one serve reception error in this game while giving up three in the first game.

L-N came on strong in the first set, but had to recover from a close second set to win a close third set.

Game statistics: (Kills – Ace – Digs:

Hanna Skinner 0, 1, 9; Elsa Jorgensen 0, 1, 18; Emma Epley 9, 0, 17; Aleah Heikkinen 9, 0, 9; Kara Menke 3, 0, 3; Emily Troudt 0, 2, 1; Kylie Beard 6, 0, 4; Katelyn Mazour 2, 1, 10; Sydney Biltoft 4, 0, 2.

Assists: Katelyn 18, Emma 10.

Blocks: Aleah, Kylie and Sydney each with an assist.

Serve Receive: Elsa 18 of 19; Aleah 12 of 12; Hanna 10 of 10.

L-N – PALMER: 25-14, 25-17: Set no. 1: Palmer scored first and even won the first long volley of the set, but L-N tied the score at 7-7. After that, L-N took advantage of a number of Palmer hitting errors and Aleah and Emily pounded down a couple of kills for the Raiders to coast to the victory of set no. 1.

Set no. 2: L-N scored first and won a long volley early in the set to jump out to an early 3-0 lead. Palmer tied the score at 6-6 and again at 10-10 and 13-13 before the Raider slowly gained momentum. Aleah served back-to-back aces and the 24th point came on a long volley again won by the Raiders. For the final point, Emily found an empty spot on the very rear of the Palmer side of the net to drop the ball into.

(Kills, Ace, Digs) Hanna Skinner 0, 0, 5; Elsa Jorgensen 0, 2, 7; Emma Epley 11, 0, 4; Aleah Heikkinen 3, 2, 6; Kara Menke 0, 0, 0; Emily Troudt 4, 3, 0; Kylie Beard 2, 0, 0; Katelyn Mazour 1, 1, 9; Bailey Ceder 0, 0, 0; Sydney Biltoft 4, 0, 2.

Assists: Katelyn 13, Hanna 2, Emma 4, Emily 3, Aleah 1, Kylie 1.

Blocks: Aleah and Emily one assist each.

Serve Receive: Elsa 12-14, Aleah 10-11.

The girls played at home Tuesday against Palmer and travel to Superior on Thursday.