The Crookston Pirate Girls’ Tennis team continues to play stellar tennis as they beat Providence Academy 5-2 in the first round of the Minnesota State Class A Girls’ Tennis tournament at the Reed Sweatt Tennis Center in Minneapolis.
Crookston loss to Providence Academy 4-3 last year in the State Consolation Championship.
CROOKSTON VS Providence Academy –
Crookston knew coming into the match that Providence Academy was very good at doubles and they needed to come out strong at singles and especially at doubles. Crookston dominated the singles matches and won the first three completed matches, all at singles.
Paige Abrahamson was impressive at third singles for Crookston as she won the first set 6-2. She continued her strong play in the second set and won 6-3 to give the Pirates a 1-0 lead.
The next match completed was at second singles as Ashlyn Bailey played an outstanding match as she cruised to a 6-0 victory in the first set and continued her fantastic play in the second set for a 6-2 victory to win the match and give the Pirates a 2-0 lead.
The first singles match was the next match to wrap up as Crookston’s Kaylie Clauson, who had a difficult section semi-final and championship opponent, which proved valuable heading to state. Kayle bounced back with an impressive win in the first round as she won the first set 6-4 and pulled away with an outstanding second set for a 6-2 victory to give the Pirates a 3-0 lead.
Providence Academy countered by winning the next two matches to get within a 3-2 deficit.
The second doubles match went to Providence Academy as Annabelle Whitaker and Bernadette Von Dohlen won a tight 6-3, 6-2 victory to get within a 3-1 deficit.
The next match completed was the first doubles match as Delaney Flanagan and Brigitta Nelson of Providence Academy won a thriller over Crookston’s Addie Fee and Georgia Sanders. The first set was 6-6 when Providence Academy won the tie-breaker 7-2 to win the first set. The second set was a carbon copy as the set was tied at 6-6. Providence Academy won the tie-breaker again by a 7-2 score to win the match, and Providence Academy was within a 3-2 deficit with two remaining matches.
Crookston finished the sweep of singles as Emelia Hoerner won an over two-hour match at fourth singles. Hoerner is no stranger to long matches as she said she averages about two hours each match she plays. She won the first set 6-4 and took a 2-1 lead early in the second set. Her opponent battled back and took a 4-2 lead. Hoerner is the model of consistent play and just kept returning shot after shot and continued to wear down her opponent as they came back to win the set 7-5 to give the Pirates a 4-1 lead and assured the team of advancing to the state semi-finals on Wednesday morning at 10:00 a.m. against the winner of Litchfield and Montevideo.
The final match on the court was third doubles. Chloe Boll and Emma LaPlante in a third set. The Pirate third doubles team is always entertaining to watch, including Boll returning a shot at the net, and after hitting the winner, she ran into the bench on the side of the court and bounced right back up. Emma and Chloe lost the first set 7-5, but bounced back with a 6-4 victory to force a third set. The third set was back and forth, and Boll and LaPlante finished strong, winning the third set 6-4 to give Crookston a 5-2 victory to advance to the state semi-finals on Wednesday.
Crookston will play Litchfield at 10:00 a.m. in the state semi-finals. The winner will play for the state championship at 4:00 p.m., and the loser will play for third place at 2:00 p.m.
CROOKSTON-5 | Providence Academy-2 | Win | Score | |
1st | Kaylie Clauson | Julia Tennison | Crox | 6-4, 6-2 |
2nd | Ashlyn Bailey | MaryJane Whitaker | Crox | 6-0, 6-2 |
3rd | Paige Abrahamson | Amelie Threinen | Crox | 6-2, 6-3 |
4th | Emelia Hoerner | Whitney Whitaker | Crox | 6-4, 7-5 |
1st Dub | Addie Fee Georgia Sanders | Delaney Flanigan Brigitta Nelson | PA | 7-6 (7-3), 7-6 (7-2) |
2nd | Logan Brekken Ava Martin | Annabelle Whitaker Bernadette Von Dohlen | PA | 6-3, 6-2 |
3rd | Chloe Boll Emma LaPlante | Leia Gable Caroline Dierberger | Crox | 5-7, 6-4, 6-4 |










