NORMAN COUNTY EAST/ULEN-HITTERDAL VOLLEYBALL WINS 3-0 OVER CROOKSTON PIRATES

The Crookston Pirate Volleyball team hosted the Norman County East-Ulen-Hitterdal Titans in a Friday night matchup. The Titans had a very close first set, winning it by only two points (25-23), but were able to win their following two sets by over 10 points (25-11, 25-13) to win 3-0 over Crookston. 

FIRST SET

The Crookston Pirates started quickly in the opening set, winning the first three points. Joey Nesseth had a critical block that gave the Pirates a 5-2 lead, while Mackenzie Funk had an ace to give the Pirates a 7-2 lead. The Titans fought back with the help of a Jocelyn Baseth ace and an Izzy Klemetson kill to pull within 7-5. The teams exchanged points, but the Titans pulled within one after a Claire Brambrink kill at 9-8. The Pirates won three of the following four points with the help of a Dani Kresl ace to give them a 12-9 lead. The Titans took their first lead at 13-12, which forced Crookston to call a timeout to try and slow the Titans down. The teams would tie at 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, and 17 as a back-and-forth battle occurred during the middle of the set. Brambrink got a pivotal kill for the Titans to give them an 18-17 lead and later added another kill at 22-19. The Pirates rallied back, pulled within 22-21, and forced a Titans timeout. Elise Tweten would get a kill right after the timeout to put the Titans up 23-21. The teams traded points, and at 24-23, the Pirates had a serve to try and tie the set, but the Titans would get the side out and win the first set 25-23.

SECOND SET

The Titans and Pirates would tie at 1, 2, and 3 before Tweten got a kill to give the Titans a one-point lead and followed that up with an ace to go up 5-3. Emma LaPlante would get a kill for the Pirates to pull within one, but Klemetson got back-to-back kills, and the Titans got another point to go up 8-4, forcing an early timeout from Crookston. The Pirates pulled within three at 9-6, but the Titans went on an 8-0 run to open up a 17-6 lead. Crookston would win the following three points to make it 17-9. After the two teams traded points, Brenna Olson would get a kill that sparked a 6-0 run for the Titans to win the set 25-11.

THIRD SET

In the third set, the Titans took an early lead, but the Pirates quickly tied things up at two and took the lead with the help of a Nesseth kill. Nesseth continued her great net play by earning another block to give Crookston a 6-3 lead. The Titans would win four of the following five points as Klemetson had two kills during that stretch to tie the match at 7. Emily Bowman got a kill for the Pirates to give them an 8-7 lead, but the Titans would tie it up at 8. After another Pirate point to give them a 9-8 lead, Olson got another clutch kill to tie the match at 9. The Titans took an 11-9 lead, but the Pirates tied it up at 11 with the help of a Makenna Kopecky ace. The Titans went on an 11-0 run to open up a 22-11 lead. Payton Haspel had an ace during the run, while Tweten had two kills. The Pirates won two of the following three points, but Aubrey Anderson got a kill to make it 24-13, and the Titans would get the next point to win the set 25-13 and the match 3-0. 

Crookston would fall to 2-18, while the Norman County East-Ulen-Hitterdal win gives them a three-match win streak, and their record improves to 8-8. 

Norman County East-Ulen-Hitterdal plays their final regular season match against Mahnoman-Wauben at home on Tuesday.

Crookston will play Climax-Fisher on Monday, a match you can hear on KROX, with the first serve at approximately 7:15. 

TO HEAR COACH KATIE ENGELSTAD’S POST-MATCH COMMENTS, CLICK BELOW:

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