PIRATE BOYS TENNIS DEFEATS PERHAM, FALLS TO MINNEWASKA IN SECTION 8A TOURNAMENT

The Crookston Pirate Boys Tennis team competed in the Section 8A Team Tournament today in Alexandria. The Pirates earned the #3 seed in the tournament and took on the #6 seed Perham Yellowjackets in the first round. The two teams met just last week, with Crookston winning 6-1, but four of the matches were decided by three-set tiebreakers and Crookston won all of them. Crookston once again won 6-1, but this time all their victories were in straight sets beside one-third set tiebreaking victory. “The boys did a great job of coming out today and taking care of business right away against,” said Pirates Coach Pat Janorschke. “All of them played well and set the table in that first matchup.”

Unfortunately for the Pirates, they did not have the same success against the #2 seed Minnewaska Area in the semifinals, as Minnewaska handled Crookston 6-1 to end the Pirates season. 

CROOKSTON VS PERHAM –
Perham jumped out to an early lead with a win at #1 singles when Josh Peterson took down Erik Coauette 6-0 in the first set before winning the second set 6-1. Peterson was the only victory that the Yellowjackets had the first time the two teams met, as he defeated Coauette 6-0, 6-0 the last time.

The Pirates quickly responded with a win at #4 singles as Reggie Winjum took care of Mason Happel 6-0, 6-3 knotting the match up at 1-1. “Reggie is the kind of kid you don’t really have to say anything too,” said Pirates Coach Pat Janorschke. “He knows what he needs to do in order to have success and more times than not gets it done.”

Shortly after, the #3 doubles team of Sam Widseth and Tim Brule gave the Pirates the lead with a straight-set victory. The duo won the first set 6-4 before taking care of business in the second set 6-1. 

The next match to finish was at #2 singles between Jack Garmen of Crookston and Mikey Schwantz of Perham. When the two met less than a week ago, they played to a third set tiebreaker where Garmen prevailed. This time, however, It was all Jack Garmen, as he managed a straight-set win of 6-1, 6-1 to put Crookston in front 3-1 in the match and one win away from advancing to the Section 8A Semifinals. “Jack played extremely well today,” said Pirates Coach Pat Janorschke. “He played the same kid last week and this time found a way to avoid going to a third set tiebreak so I was very pleased with his play.”

That final point the Pirates needed would come from the next match as the #1 doubles team of Evan Christensen and Mason Owens took care of their opponents 6-2, 6-4 giving Crookston their fourth point and guaranteeing a win. “Those guys do such a great job of playing together,” said Pirates Coach Pat Janorschke. “They played well and like most of the matchups today never gave their opponents much of a chance.”

The teams finished out the remaining two matches with Crookston winning both to win the match 6-1. The Pirates picked up the win at #2 doubles with Nathan Kelly and Kaleb Armstrong winning 6-4, 6-2, and Isaac Thomforde finished the match for Crookston with a win at #3 singles. Thomforde fell behind in the first set 4-6 before bouncing back and winning the second set 6-4. In the third set tiebreaker, Thomforde prevailed 10-6 for the win. “That was actually unusual for Isaac to start that slow,” said Pirates Coach Pat Janorschke. “Even though he started slowly he found a way to keep grinding and he could’ve thrown in the towel with the team match already won but that’s not the way he is. He usually finds a way to win and played well enough again in that match to do so.”

Crookston now advances to the Section 8A Semifinals that will be played this afternoon at approximately 4:30 p.m. The Pirates opponent will be the #2 seed, Minnewaska Area

CROOKSTON VS MINNEWASKA –
Once again the Pirates fell behind early as Minnewaska got a strong performance at #1 singles. Tate Reichmann was able to defeat Erik Coauette 6-0, 6-0 to give Minnewaska a 1-0 lead in the match. 

Unlike the first match against Perham, the Pirates would not tie the match at 1-1 but instead fall behind 0-2. Isaac Thomforde battled at the #3 singles spot for the Pirates but eventually fell in the first set 2-6 before losing the second set 1-6 to give Minnewaska a 2-0 advantage in the match. 

Shortly after, the next two matches went Minnewaska’s way and the Pirates had officially been eliminated from the Section 8A Tournament. The Pirates #3 doubles team of Sam Widseth and Tim Brule were right with their opponents in set #1 before losing 4-6, and after that, they ran out of gas in set #2 and lost that one 2-6 giving Minnewaska a 3-0 lead in the match. The next match to go final was the #3 doubles match where Minnewaska claimed another straight-sets victory 6-3, 6-2 to secure the match with a 4-0 lead and three more matches that needed to be finished. 

The next match to go final was at #2 singles between Crookston’s Jack Garmen, and Minnewaska’s Gannon Walsh. Garmen had a great first set and secured a 7-5 win, but Walsh was able to even things up in the second set with a 6-0 victory forcing a third-set tiebreaker. In the tiebreak, Walsh was able to carry over the momentum from the second set and get the win 10-5 to give Minnewaska a 5-0 lead in the match. 

Minnewaska also won the #1 doubles match 6-2, 5-7, 10-8 to complete the sweep in doubles. The Pirates lone victory in the match came from Reggie Winjum at the #4 singles spot. Winjum had little trouble handling his opponent in both sets and winning his match 6-2, 6-2.

With the loss, Crookston ends their team season with a final record of 11-10. They will lose seven seniors from the team as Erik Coauette, Jack Garmen, Mason Owens, Evan Christensen, George French, Joey Brule, and Austin Crawford are set to graduate later this week. The Section 8A individual tournament will begin tomorrow with Jack Garmen and Reggie Winjum competing in the doubles tournament, and Evan Christensen and Isaac Thomforde playing doubles as well for the Pirates. Erik Coauette and Kaleb Armstrong will be competing in the singles tournament.