BEMIDJI LUMBERJACKS EDGE PIRATE BOYS TENNIS 4-3 IN SEASON-OPENER

The Crookston Pirate Boys Tennis team opened up the season with a 4-3 loss to the Bemidji Lumberjacks in the season-opening match for both teams at the Bemidji High School tennis courts. 

CROOKSTON VS BEMIDJI-
The Pirates only have two seniors on the squad with Isaac Thomforde and newcomer Caden Boike. Most of the lineup is sophomores and younger, so the Pirates knew taking on a solid program like Bemidji was going to be a tough match, but the Pirates played well throughout the lineup.
first match completed was at first doubles with Crookston’s Grant Funk and Jack Everett playing a solid match, but Bemidji was strong and was able to hit a lot of big shots to win 6-2, 6-2.
At about the same time, the first singles match wrapped up, and Crookston’s Isaac Thomforde had an impressive season debut as the senior won a hard-fought first set 6-4 and cruised to a 6-0 second set victory to tie the team score at 1-1.
The next three matches were all done around the same time as the third singles had Sam Widesth battling, but he fell short 6-2, 6-2.
The third doubles match was a close one, especially in the first set, with Colton Osborn and Hudson Rick losing a tight first set 7-5, and the Lumberjacks handled the second set with a 6-2 win to win the match.
The next match was at fourth singles, with Crookston’s Gunnar Groven turning in a solid performance but came up short in the first set, losing 6-3, and battled again in the second set while coming up short in a 6-4 loss. With the win, Bemidji officially won the match with four victories.
The Pirate second doubles team of Caden Boike and Tim Brule won a hard-fought battle. After losing the first set 6-4, you could tell the Pirates started to gel and play better as they won the second set 6-4 before winning the super tie-breaker 10-1 to win the match.
The final match on the court was second singles, and Reggie Winjum won the first set 6-4 and trailed 5-1 in the second set. Winjum settled down and played outstanding tennis for the rest of the match to win the next six games, winning the set 7-5, and Bemidji won the team score 4-3.

Crookston drops to 0-1 on the year and will travel to East Grand Forks for a triangular along with Fergus Falls on Monday. Bemidji improves to 1-0 on the year.

Click below to listen to Coach Shelly Thomforde’s post-match comments