The Crookston Pirate Girls Tennis team played two great matches, but came up short in a 4-3 loss to the Litchfield Dragons in the semi-finals. In the third place match the Pine City Dragons edged the Pirates 4-3 and the Crookston Pirates finished fourth place at Minnesota State Class A Girls Tennis tournament semi-finals at Reed-Sweatt Family Tennis Center in Minneapolis.
CROOKSTON VS LITCHFIELD –
Litchfield won the first singles match, with #8 ranked Isla Dille beating Crookston’s Ashlyn Bailey 6-1, 6-1 for a 1-0 lead.
Crookston won the next completed match, with Emelia Hoerner picking up another win as she cruised in the first set to a 6-1 victory and shut out her opponent in the second set 6-0 to tie the team score at 1-1.
Crookston took the lead with a win at second doubles as Georgia Sanders and Logan Brekken played a great match. The Pirates won the first set 6-4 in a back-and-forth battle, but the girls came up with some big points to win the first set. They continued to play great tennis as they won the second set 6-2 to give Crookston a 2-1 lead.
Litchfield tied the match with a win at third singles as Emma Wuatila beat Crookston’s Ava Martin 6-2, 6-0 to tie the match at 2-2.
The first and third doubles and second singles matches all went to three sets.
Third doubles was the first of the remaining three matches to finish. Crookston’s Chole Boll and Emma LaPlante impressively won their first set with a 6-2 victory. Litchfield bounced back to win the second set 6-4 to force a third set. As you would expect, it was a fantastic third set that was tied at 6-6 going to a tie-breaker. In the tie-breaker, the first to seven and leading by two points wins the match. Boll and LaPlante were giving it their all and were making amazing shot after amazing shot while lunging, sliding, and running down shots and led 5-3. The Pirates ended strong with the final two points to win the tie-breaker 7-3 to give Crookston a 3-2 lead in the match.
The first doubles team of Kaylie Clauson and Addie Fee won their first set 6-1 before falling in the second set 7-6, forcing an important third set. Litchfield had some huge points to win the third set 6-4 to tie the team score at 3-3 with second singles left.
Crookston’s Paige Abrahamson was taking on Litchfield’s Maya Wuotila at second singles. Paige won the first set 6-3 before Litchfield won the second set 6-4. Litchfield’s Wuatila took a 5-4 lead in the third set. Abrahamson answered by winning the next game to make it 5-5. Wuatila won the next game to take a 6-5 lead, with everybody watching the match. In the next game, Abrahamson trailed 15-30 before scoring the next two points to take a 40-30 lead. Litchfield scored the next point to force a deuce. Paige won the next point before Litchfield answered with the next to put the score back to deuce. Litchfield scored the next point and was one point away from winning the match. Abrahamson hit a great show down the line, and the Litchfield player had an amazing return while lunging on the baseline, it sailed up over Paige and just landed inbounds to win the set 7-5, to win the match and win the team portion with a 4-3 victory. The second singles match lasted 2 hours and 58 minutes.
Crookston will play Pine City in the third-place match with a scheduled 2:00 p.m. start.
| CROOKSTON-3 | Litchfield-4 | Win | Score | |
| 1st | Ashlyn Bailey | Isla Dille | Litch | 6-1, 6-1 |
| 2nd | Paige Abrahamson | Maya Wuotila | Litch | 3-6, 6-4, 7-5 |
| 3rd | Ava Martin | Emma Wuatila | Litch | 6-2, 6-0 |
| 4th | Emelia Hoerner | Marcella Bruning | Crox | 6-1, 6-0 |
| 1st Dub | Addie Fee Kaylie Clauson | Emma Knudson Molly Patton | Litch | 1-6, 7-6 (7-3), 6-4 |
| 2nd | Georgia Sanders Logan Brekken | Brynn Nagel Tayah Damerow | Crox | 6-4, 6-2 |
| 3rd | Chloe Boll Emma LaPlante | Elly Woeffel Emily Michels | Crox | 6-2, 4-6, 7-6 (7-3) |
CROOKSTON VS PINE CITY for THIRD PLACE –
Pine City started the match with a victory at first singles, as #10 ranked Brooke Boland came out strong and beat Crookston’s Kaylie Clauson 6-1, 6-0. The match had an ominous start for Clauson, as her racquet broke in warmups, and she switched to a backup, which broke a few seconds later. Georgia Sanders let Kaylie use one of her racquets, and Boland was impressive in the victory.
The singles matches continued to move along at a good clip as Crookston’s Emelia Hoerner made quick of her opponent at fourth singles with a 6-0 first-set victory. She followed with an impressive 6-2 second set victory to win her match and tie the team score at 1-1.
Crookston’s Paige Abrahamson also played a dominant match at third singles, winning her first set 6-1. The second set was a little closer, but Paige continued her stellar play and ended her Pirate tennis career with a 6-3 second set victory to win the match to give Crookston a 2-1 lead.
Crookston picked up another victory at second doubles as Ava Martin and Logan Brekken came out strong and won the first set in about 15 minutes in a 6-1 victory. Martin and Brekken finished strong with a 6-3 victory in the second set to give the Pirates a 3-1 lead in the match.
Pine City won the first doubles match as Vivian Lahti and Kate Unverzagt (who will be playing in the state doubles tournament) beat Crookston’s Ashlyn Bailey and Georgia Sanders 6-4, 6-1 to get within a 3-2 team score deficit.
The two matches remaining were the third doubles team of Chloe Boll and Emma LaPlante and second singles with Addie Fee.
The third doubles match was another exciting match as Crookston lost the first set 6-3. LaPlante and Boll bounced back with a 6-4 victory in the second set to force a third set. Since it was a third-place match, it was a 10-point third set tie-breaker, with Pine City taking a 9-3 lead. Boll and LaPlante battled back to get within a 9-6 deficit, but Pine City scored the next point to win the match in three sets. The team score was 3-3.
The final match was second singles with Crookston’s Addie Fee taking on Pine City’s Alana Linnell. It was a back-and-forth battle from start to finish, but Linnell was able to come up with some big points at important times to win the first set 6-3. The second match was even closer, but Linnell came away with a 6-4 victory, and Pine City won the match 4-3 to finish third place.
Crookston finishes the season with a 21-6 record and a fourth-place finish at state! They say goodbye to the following seniors – Kaylie Clauson, Addie Fee, Paige Abrahamson, Georgia Sanders, and Mariah Overgaard.
| CROOKSTON-3 | PINE CITY-4 | Winner | Score | |
| 1st | Kaylie Clauson | Brooke Boland | PC | 6-1, 6-0 |
| 2nd | Addie Fee | Alana Linnell | PC | 6-3, 6-4 |
| 3rd | Paige Abrahamson | Alyssa Miller | Crox | 6-1, 6-3 |
| 4th | Emelia Hoerner | Myra Roubinek | Crox | 6-0, 6-2 |
| 1st Dub | Ashlyn Bailey Georgia Sanders | Vivian Lahti Kate Unverzagt | PC | 6-4, 6-1 |
| 2nd | Ava Martin Logan Brekken | Lily Rootkie Samantha Root | Crox | 6-1, 6-3 |
| 3rd | Chloe Boll Emma LaPlante | Brecklyn Nicoll Mallory Clepper | PC | 3-6, 6-4, 10-6 |
