The Crookston Pirate Volleyball team hosted the Thief River Falls Prowlers on Tuesday night from inside the Crookston High School gymnasium. The Pirates did win a set, but the Prowlers won the match in four sets (25-19, 22-25, 25-13, 25-13).
First Set
The Pirates rattled off seven straight points to start the match with Libby Salentine serving to take a commanding lead. The opening set was a set of runs and the Prowlers slowly got themselves back into the set with strong play up front. With Crookston in front 16-12, the Prowlers would rattle off eight straight points that would help them take their first lead of the set en route to a 20-16 lead. Crookston would fight back with a couple of points, but the Prowlers would get five of the last six points and win the first 25-19 set coming from behind.
Second Set
Crookston once again started the second set strong jumping out to an 8-4 lead with strong play and capitalizing on a few Prowlers errors. The Prowlers would take a timeout, and much like the first set, go on a run to get themselves back in the set. Thief River Falls would trail 13-8 but rattle off five straight points to tie the set at 13-13. From there the teams would trade points until the Pirates would slowly pull in front and take a 20-17 lead. After the teams went back and forth a few more times, the Pirates would have a set point leading 24-21. The Prowlers would get a point to pull within two, but a shot from Anna Funk on the next point could not be handled, and the Pirates would win the set 25-22. For Crookston, it snapped 16 straight set losses.
Third Set
The Pirates opened up the third set with a kill from Destiny Goulet-Ramirez, followed by a misplay by the Prowlers to take a 2-0. The Prowlers would come right back with five straight points of their own to take a 5-2 lead before Crookston got four of the next five points to tie the match at 6-6. The Prowlers would go on an 8-1 run from there thanks to Crookston’s mistakes and take a commanding 14-7 lead to force a Pirates timeout. Crookston would get a couple of kills from Ramirez and work back into the set trailing 17-10, but the Prowlers were too much and would finish out the set scoring eight of the final eleven points to win the set 25-13 and go up 2-1.
Fourth Set –
The Prowlers had a strong start to the set going in front 5-2 before the Pirates got a kill from Destiny Goulet-Ramirez, an ace from Dani Kresl, and another kill from Anna Funk to tie the set at 5-5. The two teams battled back and forth until the Prowlers were in front 11-9. Thief River Falls would score four straight points on two kills and a couple of Pirates miscues to force a Crookston timeout in front 15-9. The Prowlers would score three more in a row after the timeout to go ahead 18-9, and the Pirates never recovered, losing the set 25-13, and the match 3-1.
Crookston falls to 0-6 on the season and will be in Warren on Saturday for a tournament. Play will get underway at 9:00 a.m. Thief River Falls improves to 5-4 on the year with the win.
FOR PIRATES COACH KATIE ENGELSTAD’S COMMENTS, CLICK BELOW
Audio Player
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |
| Thief River Falls | 25 | 22 | 25 | 25 |
| CROOKSTON | 19 | 25 | 13 | 13 |
For CROOKSTON
Kills – Destiny-Goulet-Ramirez- (6), Mackenzie Funk- (4),
Blocks – Destiny-Goulet-Ramirez, Grace Fischer- (2 each)
Digs – Dani Kresl- (22), Hannah Brouse- (10), Libby Salentine- (6)
Assists – Libby Salentine- (8), Joey Nesseth- (2)
Aces – Dani Kresl- (2)
For Thief River Falls
(LOST THEIR STAT SHEET)
