The Crookston Pirate Boy’s Tennis team finished eighth place out of eight teams in the talent-packed Art Nelson Tournament in Pine City. #1 ranked Mounds Park Academy won the tournament. “It was a very strong tournament with some of the top teams in Class A playing so we knew it was going to be tough,” said Pirate Coach Cody Brekken. “I thought we saw some good things. We were competitive, we saw some guys competing and player hard, and it was a pretty good day of tennis.” The matches started 90 minutes late because of fog and with Pine City hosting prom they started every set at 2-2. All the winner’s bracket games will start at 0-0, but the consolations side of the bracket will start at 2-2.
The second doubles team of Mason LaPlante and Robert Janorschke had the best day for the Pirates finishing third place. They won a hard-fought first match 6-4, 7-5 to advance to the semi-finals. They lost the semi-final match to a team from Litchfield and bounced back with a three-set win. The boys lost the first set 4-6 and answered with a 6-4 win in the second set to force a third set. Mason and Robert came out strong and cruised to a 10-3 victory to earn the third-place medal. “They played well. It was a great weekend for those two and they had some consistant play throughout the matches today,” said Pirate Coach Cody Brekken. “They got to see some of the top players in the state today and played well. It was a great weekend for them.”
Nick Garmen finished fourth place at first singles. Nick started the day with a win over Dylan Teig of Delano 6-3, 6-4. Nick lost his semi-final match to the #1 ranked player in the state, Parker Law 6-2, 6-0. In the third place match, he had a good battle, but Thief River Falls’ Cole Gillespie (ranked #10 in the state) was able to come away with the win and Nick finished fourth place. “Nick played some of the top players in the state today,” said Coach Brekken. “He is really starting to find his groove in singles right now and took two points off the Mounds Park kid early so that was great. He had a good weekend.”
The third doubles team of Chris Kazmierczak and Logan Johnson had three competitive matches and won one and lost two to finish seventh place. They lost their first-round match to Thief River Falls 7-5, 6-3 and lost a heart-breaker in the consolation semi-finals in three sets to a duo from Hibbing 6-2, 6-4, 10-4. In the seventh-place match, they played a great match and beat a team from Litchfield 6-4, 6-4. “They are really playing well together,” said Coach Brekken. “They have been improving each time they play together and every match they played this weekend was competitive and they really played well.”
The last Pirates to earn a win in the tournament was the fourth doubles team of Erik Coauette and Joey Brule. After losing their first two matches, the Erik and Joey beat a Delano team 6-2, 6-2. “You have two young kids, new to varsity and they come down to one of the top tournaments and they win a match. That is great,” said Coach Brekken. “Erik was a little hard on himself at the end of the day, but I told him that they did a great job to get a win down here and it is nice to see us developing some depth.”
Crookston will be back in action on Tuesday when they travel to Moorhead for a 4:30 p.m. match.
TEAM SCORES –
1. Mounds Park Academy – 39
2. Pine City – 26
3. Thief River Falls – 21
4. Hibbing – 20
5. Litchfield – 18
6. Delano – 15
7. St.Peter – 12
8. Crookston – 7
| CROOKSTON | Opponents | Place | |
| 1st Sing | Nick Garmen | Beat Dylan Teig (D) 6-3, 6-4 Lost to Parker Law (MP) 6-2, 6-0 Lost Cole Gillespie (TRF) 6-3, 7-5 |
4th |
| 2nd | Jack Garmen | Lost Ryan Osborne (H) 6-3, 6-3 Lost Peyton Smetana(PC) 7-6, 6-3 Lost to Bailey More (SP) 6-4, 6-3 |
8th |
| 3rd | Dilon Owens | Lost to Mason Woelfel (L) 6-2, 6-2 Lost to Kelson Lund (SP) 6-4, 6-2 Lost Jared Carpenter (PC) 7-5, 6-2 |
8th |
| 4th | Mason Owens | Lost Hunter Danielson-PC 7-5, 6-3 Lost to William Larson-D 6-4, 6-4 Lost Marty Anderson (SP) 6-4, 6-2 |
8th |
| 1st Dub | Blake Fee Tanner Janorschke |
Lost Mounds Park Acad. 6-3, 6-2 Lost Delano 7-6 (7-3), 6-2 Lost St. Peter 6-3, 6-4 |
8th |
| 2nd | Mason LaPlante Robert Janorschke |
Beat St. Peter 6-4, 7-5 Lost to Litchfield 6-3, 6-1 Beat Pine City 4-6, 6-4, 10-3 |
3rd |
| 3rd | Chris Kazmierczak Logan Johnson |
Lost Thief River Falls 7-5, 6-3 Lost Hibbing 6-2, 6-4, 10-4 Beat Litchfield 6-4, 6-4 |
7th |
| 4th | Joey Brule Erik Coauette |
Lost to Hibbing 6-3, 6-3 Lost to Litchfield 6-2, 6-4 Beat Delano 6-2, 6-2 |
7th |
FOR ALL THE TOURNAMENT RESULTS, CLICK HERE
