The Crookston Pirate Volleyball team suffered a sweep for the second time this week falling to Barnesville 3-0 (25-11, 25-12, 25-18) in a non-Section match played at the Crookston High School Gymnasium.
Barnesville jumped out to an early lead in the first set following a spike by Joran Tschumperlin giving the Trojans a 2-0 lead. A kill from Olivia Sorenson made it 3-0 before a Barnesville attacking error brought Crookston within 3-1. A Jasmin Hanson kill made it 4-2 before the Trojans won seven straight points to take a 9-2 lead. Crookston won back-to-back points off Barnesville errors bringing the Pirates within 10-5. Barnesville countered taking the next four points and continued to separate from Crookston the remainder of the set in route to a 25-11 win. “It was taking us a while to figure out the blocking timing,” noted Crookston head coach Ashley Stopa. “They do a nice slide too, where they bring the middle to the other side to try and confuse the people in front of us. They did a really good job in set one of doing that. So some of the blocks weren’t up because of the movement in their front row. We just had to eliminate our errors. If we could eiminate our errors we would be more competitive.”
In the second set, Barnesville won the first five points of the set before a Jasmin Hanson kill gave Crookston its first point of the set trailing 5-1. An Allie Love kill later in the set cut the Pirates’ deficit down to 8-4. Barnesville answered by winning five of the next six points to take a 13-5 lead. Once again the Trojans continued to pull away the rest of the set taking a 2-0 lead winning the second set 25-12. “We communicated well,” added Stopa. “It’s almost like we take way too long to warm up. We’ve talked about this. I don’t know if we’re not warm when we get there or if we’re not ready when we get there.”
The third set proved to be the most competitive of the night. Barnesville made five errors in the first six points which, along with a Jasmin Hanson kill, spotted Crookston a 6-0 lead. A serving error provided the Trojans with their first point of the set, but an ace served by Emma Boll followed by another Hanson kill gave the Pirates a 9-3 lead. With Crookston in front 11-6, Barnesville won five straight points capped off by an Emily Bredman kill bringing the visitors within 11-10. The two sides continued to trade points before back-to-back kills from Jordan Tschumperlin pushed the Trojans in front 16-14. Barnesville continued to maintain their lead the rest of the night closing out the sweep with a third set win 25-18. “I think we came out pretty strong (in the third set),” said Stopa. “We talked about how many errors we made and we did a much better job of reducing our errors. That was a big stride in the right direction. Barnesville is a very good team. I think that they’re going to go deep in the playoffs. We found a system that worked for us. I think we put up some pretty big blocks and our defense was pretty spectacular. If we would’ve done the communication piece and the blocking timing the entire season I think we would’ve had a few more wins than we already have.”
Crookston falls to 2-12 on the season. The Pirates return to the court on Saturday when the Pirates will compete in the Barnesville Tournament beginning at 9:00 A.M. Barnesville improves to 12-5.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| Barnesville | 25 | 25 | 25 |
| Crookston | 11 | 12 | 18 |
For Crookston
Kills – Jasmin Hanson – 4, Emma Boll – 3
Blocks – Kasey Cwikla – 1
Assists – Emily Funk – 4, Sophia Steiner – 3
Digs – Danielle Boyle – 16, Rylee Solheim 5
Aces – Emma Boll – 1
For Barnesville
Kills – Sam Passa – 9, Emily Bredman – 8
Blocks – Jordan Tschumperlin – 2
Assists – Kim Maesse – 14
Digs – Emily Condon – 18, Lexi Bolgrean – 16, Sam Passa – 16
Aces – Jordan Tschumperlin – 2
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