PIRATE VOLLEYBALL FINISHES SIXTH PLACE IN THEIR OWN TOURNEY

The Crookston Pirate Volleyball team went 1-3 on the day and finished sixth place in the Crookston Invitational Volleyball tournament held all day at the Crookston High School Gymnasium.
Crookston lost their first two matches before they beat Northome-Kelliher in pool play.  With a 1-2 record in pool play, Crookston was matched up with Warroad (1-2 in the other pool) in the fifth-place match and Warroad used a strong third set to beat the Pirates 2-1.  The match stories are below – 

CROOKSTON vs CLIMAX-FISHER
In the first match of the day, both Crookston and Climax-Fisher were trying to shake off the early morning and rust and had a good back and forth battle.  In the first set, Climax-Fisher was able to hold off Crookston for a 25-23 victory.  “The first match of the day is always tough on Saturday tournaments,” said Pirate Coach Ashley Stopa. “We came out pretty strong but had a few too many errors.  I thought we had some good serves and played well.”
In the second set, Climax-Fisher pulled away late for a 25-20 victory to win the match 2-0. “We had too many errors and Climax-Fisher did a nice job tipping at the net and that caused some problems.  Overall it was a pretty even match, but we made a few too many mistakes.”

CROOKSTON vs CLEARBROOK-GONVICK
Crookston took a quick 8-4 lead behind some nice attacks and solid serving.  Clearbrook-Gonvick answered with a 7-3 run of their own tying the set at 11-11.  Clearbrook-Gonvick continued to roll with some nice attacks and some Crookston hitting and passing errors and the Bears finished the set on a 14-5 run to win the set 25-16.  “We started the match playing well,” said Coach Stopa. “We got into a bit of a rollercoaster and Clearbrook-Gonvick played solid the entire set and that was the difference.”
In the second set, Crookston slowly built a 16-12 lead.  Clearbrook-Gonvick settled in and started to pick up their aggressiveness on their attacks and tied the set at 16.  The Bears took the lead with a service ace and the teams battled back-and-forth the rest of the way and Clearbrook-Gonvick led 22-21.  Crookston hit an attack into the net and the Bears added another point with a kill for a 24-21 lead.  The teams exchanged points the rest of the way and Clearbrook-Gonvick won the set 25-22 and won the match 2-0.  “As soon as the other team goes on a run we start to hesitate and that hurts us,” said Coach Stopa. “We did some nice things in the match and had better serving and everybody got in the match so it was a good team effort.”

CROOKSTON vs NORTHOME-KELLIHER
Crookston finally won their first match since winning their season-opening match in a 3-2 win over Bagley,  with an exciting 2-1 victory over Northome-Kelliher in the final game of pool play.
Northome-Kelliher won a thrilling back-and-forth battle in the first set by a 26-24 score.  Crookston answered with a big 25-14 victory in the second set to force a third and final set.
In the third set, the teams went back and forth the entire way and Crookston was able to come up with some late points to win 15-13 to win the match 2-1. “We were waiting for something to start clicking, we hit spots and played well,” said Coach Stopa. “It was nice to get the win and fun to see the girls keep pushing.”

CROOKSTON vs WARROAD  – FIFTH PLACE MATCH
Crookston struggled from the beginning in the first set with some hitting errors and Warroad came out with some big kills early to set the tone on their way to a 20-9 lead in the first set. The teams played even the rest of the way and Warroad won the set 25-15 to take a 1-0 lead in the match.
In the second set, Crookston led 17-16 when Kasey Cwikla had a big kill and Warroad had an attack go out of bounds and the next attack went into the net.  Warroad wanted a time out with Crookston leading 20-16.  The teams exchanged points and Crookston led 22-20 when Jasmin Hanson had a kill for a 23-20 lead.  Warroad followed with a kill before they hit the ball into the net and Crookston led 24-21.  Crookston hit the next attack out of bounds and Warroad had a service ace to get within a one-point deficit before the Pirates’ Kasey Cwikla had a kill for a 25-23 victory to force a third set.  “We played a good set and the girls made the right adjustments in the second match,” said Coach Stopa.
In the third set, Warroad dominated from the start.  They took a 7-1 lead with an ace, two kills and the rest of the points were Crookston errors.  The teams exchanged points and Warroad led 10-4.  Warroad was given two more points on two Crookston errors and they followed with back-to-back kills for a 14-4 lead.  Warroad had an attack go in the net and the Warriors ended the match with a big kill for a 15-4 win to earn the 2-1 victory.  “You could tell we were tired and it showed in the last set.  I am proud of the girls and how they adjusted to all the different teams we played, but we ran out of gas,” said Coach Stopa. “This is our first long tournament and we will have to be ready for the Barnesville tournament next weekend.  Overall it was a good day with a lot of volleyball.”

For Crookston in the Tournament
Kills – Jasmin Hanson – 18, Kasey Cwikla – 15, Emma Boll – 10
Blocks – Jasmin Hanson – 5, Rylee Solheim – 3
Assists – Emily Funk – 46
Digs – Dani Boyle – 39, Rylee Solheim – 16, Emily Funk – 14
Aces – Jasmin Hanson – 7, Amelia Overgaard – 4, Kasey Cwikla – 4