The Crookston Pirate Volleyball team won the first set, but the Ada-Borup/West Cougars won the next three on their way to a 3-1 (23-25, 25-11, 27-25, 25-22) victory in the season-opening match for both teams at the Crookston High School gymnasium. “We have only been together as a team once this year,” said Pirate Coach Ashley Stopa. “I was proud of how the girls competed tonight.”
SET ONE –
Crookston jumped out to a 3-1 lead after an Emma Boll ace to start the match. “I wasn’t sure what to expect at the beginning,” said Coach Stopa. “It was nice to have a good start.” Ada-Borup/West got within one point (7-6) when Libby Salentine had a kill and Mallorie Sundeen had a block for a kill for a 9-6 lead. Crookston slowly built on their lead and had a 17-12 lead after some Cougar hitting errors. “We were blocking, hitting, and finding the open spots,” said Coach Stopa. Ada-Borup/West slowly chipped away at the Crookston lead and got within a 21-20 deficit. The Cougars had a communication error to give Crookston a point and Sundeen had a kill to give the Pirates a 23-21 lead. “Mallorie did a good job,” said Coach Stopa. “She was getting a lot of touches and capitalizing.” The Cougars bounced back to score the next two points on Crookston errors, but the set would end with Ada-Borup/West getting called for four-hits and a double hit and the Pirates won the match 25-23. “The girls were excited and I was excited too,” said Coach Stopa. “The girls were communicating and moving. It was a good start.”
SET TWO-
Ada-Borup/West came out strong in the second set and built a 17-3 lead. Crookston would play the Cougars even the rest of the way, but lost 25-11. “Ada-Borup/West came out strong,” said Coach Stopa. “We didn’t play well at the beginning, but give the girls credit they finished the set strong.”
SET THREE-
Crookston responded in a big way by scoring the first six points of the third set. All six Pirate points were off Ada-Borup/West mistakes. Crookston led 8-2 when Boll had back-to-back aces for a 10-2 lead. “That was a good way to respond,” said Coach Stopa. “The girls came out and played a lot better.” The Cougars slowly chipped away at the deficit and tied the set at 20-20 while taking advantage of three straight Pirate miscues. The teams were tied at 22, 23, 24, and 25 before Crookston was called for a lift and Lauren Thompson had a block for a kill to give the Cougars a 27-25 victory for a 2-1 lead in the match.
SET FOUR-
Crookston started the fourth set on a good note by taking a 6-3 lead with a Boll kill, Sundeen ace, followed by a Hannah Loraas kill. “It was a good start and we hadn’t had a fourth set in some time,” said Coach Stopa. Ada-Borup/West answered with a kill from Kaleigh Sip and back-to-back aces by Grace Kroshus to tie the set at 6-6. Crookston answered and built a 20-14 lead and looked like they were going to tie the match at two sets apiece. Ada-Borup/West had different ideas as they scored six straight points to tie the set at 20-20. The teams were also tied at 21, and 22 when Crookston served the ball out of bounds, and the Cougars followed with another point before Thompson ended the match with a kill for a 25-22 win and a 3-1 match victory. “They had some pretty good servers that we struggled with,” said Coach Stopa. “There are a lot of positives to take away from the match. I was proud of how they fought, and kept fighting back the entire match.”
Crookston drops to 0-1 on the year and will travel to Fertile to take on the Fertile-Beltrami Falcons on Saturday. Ada-Borup/West improves to 1-0 on the year.
J.V. – Ada-Borup/West won 2-1 C Squad – Crookston won 2-1
[yotuwp type=”videos” id=”iISEeW3QRK4″ ]
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |
| Ada-Borup/West | 23 | 25 | 27 | 25 |
| CROOKSTON | 25 | 11 | 25 | 22 |
For Crookston
Kills – Mallorie Sundeen – 6, Rylee Solheim – 5
Blocks – none
Assists – Emily Funk – 9
Digs – Rylee Solheim – 9, Amber Cymbaluk – 8, Emma Boll – 8
Aces – Emma Boll – 3, Amber Cymbaluk – 2
