Prep volleyball: Pirates let season opener slip to Prowlers in 5 games

Crookston's season opener was upset in a five-game loss to Thief River Falls Tuesday in Crookston. The Pirates eked out a 27-25 in game one but a big run in game two let the Prowlers tie the match. The Pirates took game three 25-22 but Thief River Falls pulled through 25-20 in a pivotal game four and blew the Pirates away in game five 15-3 for the win.

"Thief River Falls is an improved team since last year," said Pirate Head Coach Lon Boike after the game. "This is disappointing for us. I thought we could get this one. We are a better team than we showed tonight."

Much of Crookston's problem throughout the night was not getting up high enough to hit down on the ball. Many of the Pirate hits sailed long.

"We're learning more about our team every day," said Coach Boike. "We've got to hit the ball. We need to get up and swing at it."

Boike also noted that the Pirates' passing needs to improve. He said getting passes to the right side of the court is ideal so the setters can use all their hitters.

Thief River Falls led 19-15 in game one before Crookston won five of the next six points to tie the game at 20-20. The Prowlers took back their lead at 23-20 but the Pirates won seven of the final nine points to win the game. Tori Schmitz brought it to match point at 26-25 with an ace that hit the net and fell into the open court.

Crookston grabbed an early 5-1 lead in game two before Thief River Falls went on an 11-0 run. Prowler Bailee Walker won ten of those points on her serve. With the Prowlers leading 12-5 after the lengthy run, they cruised to the ten-point victory.

In game three, the Pirates jumped out another early lead but this time would not give it up, although the Prowlers tied the game at 21-21. The next point could've shifted the momentum either way as a Prowler made a spectacular play to return a hard hit by the Pirates but Monica Wold came back with another hit for the Pirates to win the point and keep the momentum on Crookston's side.

Neither team could pull away in game four as they were deadlocked at 14-14 before Thief River Falls took three straight points to grab the lead for good. The Pirates got to within two points at 22-20 but the Prowlers won the final three points to bring the momentum on their side.

The Pirates took the first point of the fifth game but the Prowlers won the next six to take a commanding lead in the short game. After Crookston won the next point to make it 6-2, Thief River Falls went on a 7-0 run and won nine of the last ten points for the victory

"We missed many opportunities in the fourth game to win the match," noted Boike. "We let Thief River Falls walk away with it in the fifth game. I stressed before the fifth game we need to get off to a good start but we didn't."

Biermaier led the Pirates with 14 kills, while Colee Ulseth added nine and Wold had seven. Biermaier led the way with ten blocks, ten digs and four aces. Wold and Schmitz each had five blocks and five digs. Schmitz recorded 35 assists in the match.

Walker served up 12 aces for Thief River Falls and tallied seven kills along with Brooke Anderson and Brooke Holtman.

Thief River Falls won the junior varsity match 2-1 and the freshman match 2-0.

The Pirates are back in action Thursday at home against Mahnomen. First serve is set for 7:30 p.m.