The Crookston Pirate Girls Tennis team suffered its first loss of the season in a thrilling 4-3 loss to the Perham Yellowjackets but bounced back to beat the East Grand Forks Green Wave in a pair of Section 8A matches played in East Grand Forks.
CROOKSTON VS PERHAM –
Perham won three singles matches and snuck out a three-set victory at third doubles to beat the Crookston Pirates 4-3.
Crookston’s lone singles victory came at fourth singles, with Emelia Hoerner winning a hard-fought match 6-4, 6-3. “Emelia is fun to watch play and is very patient and consistent,” said Coach Gunderson. “That is to her advantage, and she played well.”
On the doubles side, Crookston won an exciting three-set match. Addie Fee and Kaylie Clauson won the first set 7-5 before struggling in the second set with a 6-1 loss. In the third set, it was a back-and-forth battle, but the Pirates came up with some big points to win the set 10-7 to win the match. “They made things interesting,” said Coach Gunderson. “Their mental toughness came into play, especially in the tie-breaker.”
The second doubles team of Georgia Sanders and Ashlyn Bailey continued to pick up wins as they cruised to a 6-3, 6-1 victory, but Perham won the match 4-3 to hand the Pirates their first loss of the season. “Georgia has been playing some great doubles all season long,” said Coach Gunderson. “Ashlyn played well, too, and they have been a solid team this season.”
The third doubles team lost a heartbreaker in three sets, including 10-8 in the third set. “They were down 5-4 in the first set and came back to win 7-5,” said Coach Gunderson. “They had trouble being consistent and just came up short.”
| CROOKSTON-3 | Perham-4 | Win | Score | |
| 1st | Paige Abrahamson | Kaia Anderson | Per | 6-0, 6-3 |
| 2nd | Ava Martin | Alayna Moe | Per | 6-2, 6-1 |
| 3rd | Emma LaPlante | Violet Radziecki | Per | 6-2, 6-0 |
| 4th | Emelia Hoerner | Autumn Branched | Crox | 6-4, 6-3 |
| 1st Dub | Addie Fee Kaylie Clauson | Morgan Smith Aubry Zimmerman | Crox | 7-5, 1-6, 10-7 |
| 2nd | Ashlyn Bailey Georgia Sanders | Lucy Wallgren Bella Huge | Crox | 6-3, 6-1 |
| 3rd | Chloe Boll Logan Brekken | Andre Janke Dixie Dykhoff | Per | 5-7, 6-2, 10-8 |
CROOKSTON VS EAST GRAND FORKS –
Crookston bounced back in a big way after suffering their first match of the season with a 6-1 victory over the East Grand Forks Green Wave. Crookston’s Addie Fee beat Karlee Walsh 6-4, 6-2 at second singles. “Addie played a great match,” said Coach Gunderson. “She was solid and picked up a nice win.”
Paige Abrahamson cruised to a 6-3, 6-1 victory at third singles. “She is great at playing wherever we tell her to play,” said Coach Gunderson. “She played well.”
Emelia Hoerner won her fourth singles match by forfeit, due to the East Grand Forks player not feeling well.
Crookston swept the doubles matches, with Ashlyn Bailey and Georgia Sanders winning their first doubles match 6-1, 6-4. “They had another great match and played well together,” said Coach Gunderson.
At second doubles, Ava Martin and Emma LaPlante won the first set 6-2 before falling in the second set 6-4. In the third set, it was a back-and-forth battle and Crookston snuck out a 10-8 victory to win the match. “This tells us that we have a lot of versatile players,” said Coach Gunderson. “They usually play singles and teamed up to win at doubles and that was fun to see.”
The third singles team of Chloe Boll and Logan Brekken won a fantastic match. They came up with some big points to win the first set 7-5. The second set was even closer, with Boll and Brekken winning the second set 7-6 and 7-5 in the tie-breaker to win the match. “They played well and had a lot of nice winners throughout the match,” said Coach Gunderson. “It was an exciting match, and we were communicating well.” Crookston won the team portion 6-1
Crookston improves is 5-1 on the year and travels to Detroit Lakes to play Wadena-Deer Creek on Friday and then to Alexandria for a quadrangular on Saturday.
| CROOKSTON-6 | East Grand Forks-1 | Win | Score | |
| 1st | Kaylie Clauson | Ruby Leach | EGF | 6-4, 6-0 |
| 2nd | Addie Fee | Karlee Walsh | Crox | 6-4, 6-2 |
| 3rd | Paige Abrahamson | Morgan McDonald | Crox | 6-3, 6-1 |
| 4th | Emelia Hoerner | Aria Caravan | Crox | Forfeit |
| 1st Dub | Ashlyn Bailey Georgia Sanders | Madi Wallace Chloe Svendsen | Crox | 6-1, 6-4 |
| 2nd | Ava Martin Emma LaPlante | Maya Pulkrabek Addison Spradlin | Crox | 6-2, 4-6, 10-8 |
| 3rd | Chloe Boll Logan Brekken | Daisy Omang Adelie King | Crox | 7-5, 7-6 |
