The Fertile-Beltrami Falcon Volleyball team showed why they are one of the top teams in Section 8A as they outscored Crookston 75-11 to beat the Crookston Pirates 3-0 (25-3, 25-2, 25-6) in a match that took less than 50 minutes.
FIRST SET
Fertile-Beltrami started the match with a point after Crookston hit out of bounds and Madison Stueness followed with a kill for a 2-0 Falcon lead. Crookston scored a point to get within 2-1 before Fertile-Beltrami rattled off 18 straight points. Stueness had six kills in the run, Reece Bruggeman had five aces, Brooke Fladhammer had three kills, Tessa Opdahl had one kill, and Crookston had a few attack errors, and it was all Fertile-Beltrami leading 20-1. The Falcons were called for over the net, and Crookston trailed 20-2. Stueness added another kill, and former Pirate and current Fertile-Beltrami Falcon Dani Kresl served up an ace for a 22-2 lead. Crookston freshman Abigail Bruley had a kill to get within a 22-3 deficit. The teams exchanged points, and the Falcons’ Mya Erickson had a kill followed by another Stueness kill for a 25-3 Fertile-Beltrami first-set victory. “Simply phenomenal,” said Fertile-Beltrami Coach Kerri Solie. “Teamwork on the bench, everyone on the court was talking, it seemed like they were hungry, and they just came out there ready to go.”
SECOND SET
The second set started with a Fladhammer kill, and after a Fertile-Beltrami serve went into the net, it was tied at 1-1. Fertile-Beltrami took over the set with 21 straight points. Fertile-Beltrami’s Fladhammer had six kills in the run, while Kresl had three aces, Stueness had two kills, and Erickson and Opdahl added a kill apiece. The rest of the points were Crookston errors, and Fertile-Beltrami led 22-1. Crookston stopped the run with a Bruley kill before Fertile-Beltrami’s Kresl had a kill, Bailey Iverson had a block, and Kresl ended the set with an acre for a 25-2 victory. “Every single one of our front-row players can block, hit, and play every single position,” said Falcon Coach Solie. “We had to do the little things right, and we did an excellent job of that today…it was really fun to see.”
THIRD SET
Fertile-Beltrami started the set with three Iverson service aces. After a serve in the net, the Falcons had an attack error and Crookston trailed 3-2. Once again, Fertile-Beltrami took over the set with 13 straight points. Bruggeman had four service aces in the run, Stueness had two kills, Opdahl added two kills, and the rest of the points were Crookston errors, and the Falcons led 16-2. Crookston responded with two points as Fertile-Beltrami was called for over the net, and the Pirates’ Emily Bowman had a service ace to get within a 16-4 deficit. Fertile-Beltrami’s Stueness and Erickson had kills before the Falcons had two errors, and Crookston trailed 18-6. Fertile-Beltrami ended the match on a 7-0 run with a Torrin Order ace, back-to-back kills from Erickson, a Stueness kill, a Gorder kill, and the match point was fittingly by Stueness with a big kill for a 25-6 victory to win the match 3-0. “I told the team earlier this year, if we hold a team to less than five points in a set they get a pizza party,” said Falcon Coach Solie. “They get two pizza parties and I had to tell them to keep their focus in the third set because they were asking about the pizza party. The girls came out and played great on Saturday and that carried over to tonight’s match. We played great today.”
Crookston drops to 0-6 on the year and will travel to Red Lake County Central on Thursday.. Fertile-Beltrami improves to 7-1 on the year and will be at Park Christian on Tuesday.
J.V. – Fertile-Beltrami won 2-0
C-Squad – Fertile-Beltrami won both the A and B matches by 2-0 scores.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| Crookston | 3 | 2 | 6 |
| Fertile-Beltrami | 25 | 25 | 25 |
For Crookston
Kills – Abigail Bruley – 2
Blocks – None
Digs – Emily Bowman – 4, Lana Peterson – 2, Joey Nesseth – 2
Assists – Makenna Kopecky – 1
Aces –Emily Bowman – 1
For Fertile-Beltrami
Kills – Madison Stueness – 16, Brooke Fladhammer – 7
Blocks – Brooke Fladhammer – 5, Madison Stueness – 1
Digs – Reese Bruggeman – 4, Bailey Iverson – 2
Assists – Bailey Iverson – 17
Aces – Reese Bruggeman – 9, Bailey Iverson – 3
