The Crookston Pirate Girl’s Volleyball team struggled to string point streaks together due to serving errors in a 3-0 (25-18, 25-11, 25-17) loss to the Fertile-Beltrami Falcons in a Section 8A match played at the Crookston High School Gymnasium.
Both teams traded points early on with a Jasmin Hanson kill, followed by an ace served by Hanson giving the Pirates a 3-2 lead. Following a service error and kill from Fertile-Beltrami’s Marin Roragen the visitors claimed a 4-3 lead. Lexi Swenby spiked a kill a few points later giving the Falcons a 9-5 lead. Trailing 13-9, Jasmin Hanson delivered a kill followed by a kill from Emma Boll trimming Crookston’s deficit down to 13-11. A Fertile-Beltrami attacking error brought the Pirates within 13-12 before a service error from Crookston pushed the visitors’ lead to 14-12. Crookston managed to tie the set at 15-15 following a Falcons’ error, but Fertile-Beltrami responded with a 5-0 run to take a 20-15 lead. Sophia Steiner stopped the run with a fake-set attack resulting in a Crookston point, but the Falcons lead proved too much to overcome as the visitors won the opening set 25-18. “We were just hitting into the block,” noted Crookston head coach Ashley Stopa. “They had some pretty big blockers up there so we talked about where we could go around them, and we just weren’t finding the spot on the other side of the court.”
In the second set, Fertile-Beltrami jumped out to a quick lead and never looked back. Jasmin Hanson sent a block to the Falcons’ side of the court to bring Crookston within 2-1 before the visitors won three-straight points to take a 5-1 lead. A Rylee Solheim kill trimmed Crookston’s deficit to 6-3, but the Falcons took the next five points including a kill by Lexi Swenby to gain an 11-3 lead. Fertile-Beltrami continued to pull away the rest of the set and cruised to a 25-11 set win. “It looked like they were tired already,” explained Stopa of her team’s performance in the second set. “I don’t know if that’s the Monday (impact), Mondays are a little rough on us. We are traditionally not awesomely ready on Mondays. We weren’t talking as much as we were in the first set and the energy kind of lull.”
In the third set, Crookston was unable to hold on to a lead halfway through the set. Emma Boll tallied a kill to open the set before a Jasmin Hanson kill made it 2-0 Crookston. Alissa Lundeen picked up a kill to get Fertile-Beltrami on the board in the third set bringing the visitors within 3-1. Jasmin Hanson hammered another kill giving the Pirates a 5-3 lead before the Falcons took a couple of points including an ace served by Alissa Lundeen tying the set at 5-5. Later in the set, Kasey Cwikla and Jasmin Hanson won two straight points with kills giving the Pirates a 10-8 lead. A Falcons’ attacking error put Crookston in front 11-8. Lexi Swenby led a comeback for Fertile-Beltrami including a kill and block tying the set at 11-11. Crookston pulled within 14-13 later in the set, but the Falcons won four-straight points to take an 18-14 lead. Kasey Cwikla had a kill later in the set trimming the Pirates’ deficit down to 18-15 before a kill from Allie Love cut Crookston’s deficit down to 18-17. Fertile -Beltrami answered by not losing another point the rest of the night as Alissa Lundeed held serve and hit three aces in route to a 25-17 set three win to close out the sweep. “I think, between some of our service errors, and a lull in communications during sets two and three where we just weren’t as excited as we were in set one, I think those two things were the main difference,” said Stopa. “Even if we may not have been victorious tonight there were a lot of things we worked on. Allie (Love) got a kill. Kasey (Cwikla) did a really good job with the ball. Jasmin’s (Hanson) blocks were fabulous. Everyone contributed tonight.”
Crookston falls to 1-6 on the year. The Pirates return to the court on Thursday when Crookston hosts Red Lake County at 7:15 P.M. on KROX. Fertile-Beltrami improves to 5-4.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| Fertile-Beltrami | 25 | 25 | 25 |
| CROOKSTON | 18 | 11 | 17 |
For Crookston
Kills – Jasmin Hanson – 6, Kasey Cwikla – 3
Blocks – Allie Love – 2, Kasey Cwikla – 2
Assists – Emily Funk – 7, Sophia Steiner – 4
Digs – Danielle Boyle – 9, Rylee Solheim – 5, Emma Boll – 5
Aces – Jasmine Hanson – 1
For Fertile-Beltrami
Kills – Alissa Lundeen – 9, Marin Roragen – 8, Lexi Swenby – 6
Blocks – Alissa Lundeen – 4, Marin Roragen – 2
Assists – Aubree Steffes – 22
Digs – Lexi Swenby – 12, Olivia Ellingson – 5
Aces – Alissa Lundeen – 4, Marin Roragen – 3
