For the third straight year, the Crookston Pirate Girls Tennis team is playing the Staples-Motley Cardinals in the Section 8A Girls Tennis Championship. It was another classic battle between two outstanding teams as Crookston came up with a 4-3 victory to advance back to the Minnesota State Girls Tennis Tournament on October 22 and 23 at Reed Sweatt Tennis Center in Minneapolis.
CROOKSTON VS STAPLES-MOTLEY –
Staples-Motley took a 1-0 lead when Ronnie Noska, who is ranked in the top 10 individually, played an outstanding match and beat Crookston’s Kaylie Clauson 6-0, 6-0.
Second singles was the next match completed, and Crookston’s Ashlyn Bailey played a fantastic match. She was steady from start to finish and won the match 6-3, 6-3 to tie the team score 1-1.
Staples-Motley regained the lead with a win at third singles. The Cardinals player at third singles had missed most of the year because of a knee injury and came back right before playoffs and made a big difference as she beat Crookston’s Paige Abrahamson 6-2, 6-2 to give the Cardinals a 2-1 lead.
Staples-Motley won the second doubles match to take a 3-1 lead. Crookston had some work to do as they needed to win the last three matches.
The next match completed was fourth singles, and Emelia Hoerner won the first set 6-1. The second set was a lot closer, butd her opponent 7-6 and 9-7 in the tie breaker to bring Emelia outlaste the Pirates within a 3-2 deficit.
First doubles was the next match to wrap up as Crookston’s Addie Fee and Georgia Sanders started slow and lost the first set 6-3. The Pirate duo settled in and started playing better tennis and won a great battle in the second set 6-4. In the third set, the two teams continued a great back-and-forth battle as Fee and Sanders came up with some huge points to win 6-4 to tie the match at 3-3.
The last match on the court was third doubles. Crookston had Chloe Boll, who swam last year and made it to state in two swimming events. Crookston cut swimming after the swimming due to lack of numbers so Boll came out for Tennis! Emma LaPlante was the other Pirate on the team. She played volleyball last year, and this year, she played both volleyball and tennis. The two might be inexperienced in section tennis tournament play, but they don’t lack in athleticism, heart, determination, and a willingness to do anything and everything it takes on the court to win, which was evident by the blood on Boll’s knees. Boll and LaPlante won the first set 6-4. Staples-Motley bounced back to win an amazing battle in the second set 6-4 to force a third and final set for a trip to state. Boll and LaPlante jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the third set and thought the match was already decided, and Crookston was going to state. That obviously wasn’t true, but they took their foot off the pedal, and Staples-Motley won the next three games to get within a 5-3 deficit. The girls were informed they were the deciding match to go to state and LaPlante had some great serves, and Boll had some big-time returns to win the next game, to win the set and the match and send the Pirates to the State tournament with a 4-3 victory with a 6-3 third set victory.
Click below to listen to Coach Gina Gunderson’s post-match interview.
CROOKSTON-4 | Staples-Motley-3 | Win | Score | |
1st | Kaylie Clauson | Ronnie Noska | SM6 | 6-0, 6-0 |
2nd | Ashlyn Bailey | Heidi Zimmerman | Crox | 6-3, 6-3 |
3rd | Paige Abrahamson | Kaylee Perius | SM | 6-2, 6-2 |
4th | Emelia Hoerner | Mia Pesta | Crox | 6-1, 7-6 (9-7) |
1st Dub | Addie Fee Georgia Sanders | Corrine Olson Natalie Hanson | Crox | 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 |
2nd | Ava Martin Logan Brekken | Madison Perius Sarah Kroll | SM | 6-4, 2-6, 6-2 |
3rd | Chloe Boll Emma LaPlante | Charlie Noska Andrealli GioVanni | Crox | 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 |