The Crookston Pirate Volleyball team hung around for most of the first set but just couldn’t keep up as the Cougars of Ada-Borup-West defeated the Pirates in three sets (25-14, 25-6, 25-10) at the Crookston High School gymnasium.
FIRST SET
The first set began with the opening point going to the Pirates. A kill by Nesseth made it 2-1. The lead stayed at 1 until a Syverson kill made it 5-4. Then, after a 3-0 Cougar run, a Joey Nesseth kill made it 7-5. After another run, a Dukessa Ramirez kill made it 10-6. The lead stayed at 4 until a Makenna Kopecky ace made it 12-10. Back-to-back Syverson kills make it 15-12. Then, a Macie Thornton kill made it 18-12 in the Cougar’s favor. A Funk kill stops the run powerfully. Crookston then made a couple of errors to make it 22-13. The set ended with a ball hit too long by the Pirates, ending the set at 25-14. “The first set was really fun to watch” said Pirate coach Katie Morgan after the game. “I think we kind of surprised Ada, and I think we really surprised ourselves… we were super aggressive, going after everything, and it was very fun to watch.”
SECOND SET
The second set started with a Syverson kill. At 3-0, a Morgan Engel ace made it 4-0. The Cougars came out in the second set a lot more aggressive, in comparison to the first set. A double hit followed by a block made it 9-2 Cougars. The Cougars got their run up to 11-2, all the way up to 14-2 before an Emma LaPlante kill makes it 14-3. At 16-4, a Joey Nesseth ace gets the Pirates back on the board. The Cougars were relentless, however, and after the Pirates scored a point to make it 19-6, the offense went on a 6-0 run, culminating in a Syverson kill to win the second set 25-6, to take a two sets to none lead. “We were kind of all over the place” said Morgan, “we had our communication and we were checked in to the match throughout the first set… we began to lose that.”
THIRD SET
At the start of set three, Ada-Borup West scored the first seven points of the set, before a Mackenzie Funk kill ended that rally at 7-1. Crookston then scored three in a row to cut the deficit to 7-3, before the Cougars went on a 5-0 run, with the final four points of that run scored via Syverson kills. The Pirates showed flashes of their first set play, with impressive blocks by Joey Nesseth and Rilynn Aubol, but the offensive attack by Ada-Borup West was a little too much to bear. Ada-Borup West began to take care of the ball exceptionally well, as well as capitalizing on Pirate errors, and after the score was 7-3, the Cougars ended the set on an 18-7 run, winning the final set 25-10, taking the match in three sets. When asked about how the sets changed, Morgan was very up front. “It was a little disappointing to see us give them so many points… points that they didn’t really have to work for.”
Crookston drops to 0-5 on the year and will host the Thief River Falls Prowlers in a Section 8AA matchup on Tuesday. Ada-Borup-West improves to 7-2 on the year.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| Ada-Borup-West | 25 | 25 | 25 |
| Crookston | 14 | 6 | 10 |
For Crookston
Kills – Mackenzie Funk 5, Emma LaPlante 4, Joey Nesseth 3
Blocks – Joey Nesseth 1
Digs – Mackenzie Funk 7, Joey Nesseth 6
Assists – Makenna Kopecky 7, Rilynn Aubol 4
Aces – Makenna Kopecky, Emma LaPlante, Joey Nesseth 1
For Ada-Borup-West
Kills – Malayna Syverson 19
Blocks – Malayna Syverson 1
Digs – Avery Johnson 9
Assists – Audrina Eggen 8
Aces –Morgan Hanson 7, Macie Thornton 1
