CROOKSTON GIRL’S TENNIS WINS 3 MATCHES AT ALEXANDRIA

The Crookston Pirates solidified their number six ranking in the latest Minnesota High School Class A Girl’s Tennis poll with a couple more victories yesterday over Detroit Lakes 5-2 and a Section 8A win over Wadena-Deer Creek 5-2. They completed the weekend with three more dual victories over Osakis (4-3), Alexandria (7-0), and Detroit Lakes (6-1) in a quadrangular played in Alexandria. “We had a busy weekend so we wanted to give some girls a break at doubles who normally play singles and we are always looking to find lineups that work,” explained Pirates Coach Sue Tiedemann. “We wanted to give a lot of girls opportunities so we saw some different groupings. It was a good weekend to take a look at that.”

CROOKSTON VS OSAKIS
Osakis had a strong singles line up and won three of the four singles matches.  The lone Crookston singles win came at second singles with Halle Winjum losing in the first set 6-4, but she bounced back to win the second set with an impressive 6-1 score and won the third set 7-4 to get the win.  The fourth singles match was a tight match with Abby Borowicz winning the first set 6-2, but lost the second set, forcing a third set.  The third set was close, but Osakis was able to pull out the win 7-5. 
On the doubles side, the second doubles team of Hannah Lindemoen and Morgan Nelson made quick work of their match with a 6-2, 6-2 victory. “They played strong all day together and won all three matches,” said Coach Tiedemann. The first doubles team of Hayden Winjum and Emma Gunderson won their match in a big three set victory to tie the team score 3-3.
The match came down to the third doubles match with Crookston having two freshmen, Addie Fee and Kaylie Clauson, and they pulled out a hard-fought three set win to give the Pirates a 4-3 win in the first match of the day. “They cinched it for us as the last group out so that was nice to see,” added Coach Tiedemann. “Doubles were huge for us.”

CROOKSTON VS ALEXANDRIA
After a long and hard-fought win over Osakis in the first match of the day, Crookston kept the momentum going in their next match as they cruised to a 7-0 victory over Alexandria.  “Alexandria lost pretty much everyone except for one of the girls in their first doubles, so they are a new team and I thought it was a great win,” said Coach Tiedemann. “It was a nice win, especially against a big school like Alex with everybody playing well.” The Pirates won all of their matches in a match that took a little over an hour to play.  The only three set match was at first doubles with Emma Osborn and Halle Bruggeman winning the first set, losing a close 6-4 second set before winning the third set 7-2 to complete the 7-0 team victory. “That was the doubles with the lone returning player so it was going to be tough and just great to have everybody win there,” added Coach Tiedemann.

CROOKSTON VS DETROIT LAKES
Finishing off a grueling stretch of six duals in three days, the Pirates completed the six dual stretch winning all six after their 6-1 victory over Detroit Lakes. This victory came a day after beating the Lakers 5-2. “DL is a good team that we will see again and they are good competition,” added Coach Tiedemann. “The overall scores don’t reflect how tight some of the matches were.” Hayden Winjum, Halle Winjum, Emma Gunderson, Hannah Lindemoen, and Morgan Nelson all earned their third victories of the day. The one loss of the match came at a well-played fourth singles that went to a third set tiebreak and Crookston only lost three total sets. “I thought Kaylie Clauson played really well despite the loss coming back after falling in the first set,” explained Coach Tiedemann. “She battled against a really good girl.”

Crookston now improves to 11-1 on the season! They will look to win their eighth and ninth duals in a row on Tuesday when they host a triangular with Moorhead and Thief River Falls. “We are just going out and trying to play our game and compete against whoever we are up against,” said Coach Tiedemann.