CLIMAX-FISHER VOLLEYBALL PULLS AWAY TO SWEEP CROOKSTON

The Climax-Fisher Knights seemed to get stronger as the match went along and beat the Crookston Pirate Volleyball team 3-0 (25-23, 25-17, 25-11) in a match played at the Fisher High School gymnasium.  

SET ONE –
Climax-Fisher took a 4-0 lead before Crookston answered with four straight points with kills from Libby Salentine and Hannah Loraas. “I thought we had a good start and a solid night from those two players,” said Crookston Coach Katie Englestad. “Hannah stepped it up tonight and Libby made some great defensive plays too.”  The teams were tied at 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10 before Crookston slowly built a 20-17 lead after a Loraas kill.  Crookston led 21-18 before Climax-Fisher took advantage of two Crookston hitting errors and tied the set with a Mariah Kurz kill.  Crookston hit into the net before Halle Reitmeier had a kill for a 23-21 lead. “We get caught up on one little mistake and can’t get over it,” said Coach Englestad. After the Knights hit an attack into the net Crookston was back within one point, but Kurz answered with another kill for a 24-22 lead.  Crookston’s Mallory Sundeen followed with a kill, but Hall Reitmeier answered with a big kill to give Climax-Fisher a 25-23 victory.  “The girls came out with a lot of energy in the first set so give credit to both teams,” said Knight Coach Brenda Slyt. “We found our intensity and we went for it more as the set went along.”

SET TWO –
Crookston responded nicely in the second set by scoring the first four points with an Ally Perreault block, a Libby Salentine ace, and two kills from Rylee Solheim for a 4-0 lead. “That was a good start,” said Crookston Coach Englestad. “They had good energy and that was good to see.”  The lead didn’t last long last Climax-Fisher’s Trinity Erickson hammered a kill, followed by a Reitmeier kill, another Knight point, and back-to-back kills from Erickson for a 5-4 lead. “Trinity is a true senior and she likes to get the ball and put it away,” said Knight Coach Slyt. “She is amazing and is very focused.”  The teams were tied at 5, 8, and 10 before Erickson served three straight aces for a 13-10 lead.  Crookston answered with two kills from Mallorie Sundeen.  The teams exchanged points and with the Knights leading 16-15 they took over the match with four straight kills. “We fought a lot in the first two sets,” said Coach Englestad.  Cambree Solheim started the run, followed by Ava Larson, and back-to-back kills from Erickson for a 20-15 lead. “She had a good second set,” said Crookston Coach Englestad about Erickson. “She is a very good player and showed it tonight.” The Knights held on the rest of the way for a 25-17 victory and a 2-0 lead in the match. “It was a complete team effort in the set and we have a lot of sophomores mixed with our two seniors and they came up with some big plays.”

SET THREE – 
Crookston had another good start while taking a 2-0 lead, but Climax-Fisher answered with five straight points.  The Knights led 7-4 when they went on an 8-0 run with five different players recording kills for a 15-4 lead. “This was a complete team win and every player on the court was chipping in and everybody played their role to help us get the big lead,” said Knight Coach Slyt.  The Knights cruised the rest of the way and fittingly ended the match with an Erickson kill and a service ace for a 25-11 victory to win the match 3-0.  “I felt we got stronger as the match went along and we have been playing really good volleyball at the end of the year,” said Knight Coach Slyt. 

Crookston drops to 4-14 on the year and will wrap up the regular season hosting Roseau on Tuesday.  Climax-Fisher improves to 7-12 on the year and will play Ada-Borup-West on Tuesday and host Red Lake Falls on Thursday at 2:30, a match you can hear on KROX. 

J.V. – CF won 2-0     8th Grade – CF won 2-0    7th Grade – CF won 2-0

	1	2	3
Crookston	23	17	11
Climax-Fisher	25	25	25