The Crookston Pirate Girl’s Tennis team, who won the Section 8A TEAM Tournament a week ago, still has five players still alive in the Section 8A INDIVIDAL Tournament that has it’s finals today at the Fargo Courts Plus starting at 9:00 AM.
DOUBLES –
Crookston has two doubles teams competing and they are the top two seeds in the tournament.
The #1 seed Winjum sisters, Hayden (Senior) and Halle (Sophomore) played the #4 seed, Macy Goochey and Mickey Clark of Park Rapids and started slow with a 7-5 victory in the first set, but picked up their game and cruised to a 6-2 victory in the second set to advance to the championship. “They started out strong with a 3-0 lead before losing four in a row,” said Pirate Coach Pat Janorschke. “They bounced right back and played great at the net and once they buckled down they were rolling.”
Crookston’s other doubles team, Emma Osborn (senior) and Emma Gunderson (Sophomore) are the #2 seed and they played the #3 seed Corra Endres and Anna Fiemeyer of Wadena-Deer Creek in the semi-finals. The Emmas didn’t start well as they lost the first set 6-3, but the bounced back to win the second set 6-1 to force a third set. Osborn and Gunderson build a 5-0 lead and held on for a 6-3 victory in the third set after a two hour match. “They started slow and shook off the nerves after the first set and they really played well in the second set,” said Coach Janorschke. “The built a big lead in the third set and maybe had a little bit of a lull and lost their aggressiveness, but got it back when they needed it to pick up the win.”
The doubles championship had the two Crookston teams taking on each other for a trip to the state individual tennis tournament. Hayden and Halle Winjum started strong and won the first set 6-3. Emma Osborn and Emma Gunderson bounced back to win the second set 6-2 to force a third and final set. In the third set the Winjum’s pulled away for a a 6-1 victory to win the championship and advance to state. The good news was Wadena-Deer Creek won the third place match so that meant Osborne and Gunderson finished second place with no true second match and also advanced to the state individual tennis tournament. “It was a great back-and-forth match between them,” said Coach Janorschke. “They both played hard and it is great that both teams get to advance to state because they deserve it. They have worked so hard.”

SINGLES –
Brekken Tull, a sophomore who played third singles most of the year for the Pirates, has had an impressive run and won her first two matches last week and faced off against the number one seed, Lauren Rutten of Staples-Motley in the Section 8A semi-finals today. Brekken played a solid first set, but lost 6-2, and Rutten pulled away in the second set, showing why she is the top seed, to win 6-0. “Brekken played a great match and has nothing to be down about,” said Coach Janorschke. “She was solid on her ground strokes and I thought she played an excellent match. She will have another tough match coming up, but she is ready for it and she played as hard as she could and that is all you can ask for.” Tull had another tough task in the third place match as she played Park Rapids’ Abby Morris. Tull, who injured her leg in a previous match tweaked her muscle and while trailing 5-1 she was forced to withdraw and forfeit the match. “It was a hard decision to pull her out,” said Coach Janorschke. “But we had to do what is best for her and to keep her as healthy as we can. To get fourth place in the section is a pretty impressive feat and she is going to be a force to reckoned with for years to come.” The decision was tough for Tull, who was in tears after tweaking the muscle and being the competitor she is it hurt her even more to have to withdraw from the match. A main reason why she withdrew is to make sure she doesn’t hurt it any worse so she can compete in the State Team tournament on Tuesday, October 26.
CROOKSTON | Opponents/Result | Place | |
Singles | Brekken Tull | Wednesday – October 12 Amanda Berscheit (LPGE) W 6-0, 6-0 Libby Hartman (Wad) W 6-7, 6-4, 6-0 Tuesday – October 18 Lauren Rutten – (SM) L 6-2, 6-0 Abby Morris (PR) L Injury Default |
4th |
Doubles | Hayden Winjum Halle Winjum |
Wednesday – October 12 Bye Schulz/Koppelman (PR) W 6-2, 6-2 Tuesday – October 18 Goochey/Clark (PR) W 7-5, 6-2 Osborn/Gunderson (Crox) W 6-3, 2-6, 6-1 |
1st |
Emma Osborn Emma Gunderson |
Bye Danielson/Brandt (Ros) W 6-4, 6-1 Tuesday – October 18 Endres/Fiemeyer (WDC) W 3-6, 6-1, 6-3 Winjum/Winjum (Crox) L 3-6, 6-2, 1-6 |
2nd |