Momentum from first set doesn’t hold, Gilman falls 3-1 at Athens
GILMAN VOLLEYBALL
As intended, the first two weeks of Gilman’s volleyball schedule is showing the Pirates where their strengths and weaknesses are before Eastern Cloverbelt Conference play begins.
After a 3-1 non-conference loss at Athens on Thursday, head coach Janice Komanec said one adjustment is coming into focus. The Pirates need to find more of an offensive mindset.
“We are working to expand and strengthen our offensive options,” Komanec said after the Pirates fell to 3-4 overall heading into one more non-conference match tonight, Thursday, against Abbotsford in Gilman’s 2021 home opener. “We need to work hard to earn more points each set and not depend on the errors of our opponents to help get us to the win.”
Against the Blue Jays, who received honorable mention in this week’s Wisconsin Volleyball Coaches Association Division 4 state rankings, Gilman did score enough points to win the opening set 25-22.
Athens evened things by taking set two 25-20 and the Jays took the third set by the same score. With momentum, the Blue Jays closed things out with a 25-14 win in the fourth.
The win was the sixth in eight matches for Athens, who closed out its two-day stint at the Aug. 27-28 Menomonie Sprawl with four straight wins and a 25th-place finish and then split two tough matches at the Aug. 31 Northland Pines triangular. Athens did lose its Marawood North opener to Phillips Tuesday to fall to 8-6.
Gracie Tallier had a strong all-around night for Gilman with 14 kills, 21 digs, two aces and a block kill. Tatum Weir was a net presence as well with 10 attack kills and five blocks. Emma Grunseth added nine kills, a block and an ace. Hannah Vick had four blocks and two kills, and Ava Gunderson added five kills and a block.
Abby Chaplinski set up the hitters with 37 assists and she had a team-high three aces. Ellie Drier had a team-high 25 digs, Chaplinski had 14, Kayleigh James had 13 and Kya Dietzler added 10.
Tonight’s match with Abbotsford will give Gilman a good final test before the Pirates open ECC play at defending league champion Columbus Catholic Tuesday at 7:15 p.m. The Lady Dons are eighth in this week’s state Division 4 poll.
“We have one more non-conference match before conference play begins,” Komanec said. “We’ve had great competition. Three of our four losses have come to teams currently listed on the WVCA rankings, all of which we were competitive with. This shows that we are right on the heels of some of the upper teams in our division, but we now need to find how to push through and get the wins against those competitive teams.”
Gilman goes back to Prentice Sept. 16 for another non-conference match. Tenth-ranked Prentice and third-ranked Three Lakes are the other ranked teams to defeat Gilman in the early going with both of those matches coming in the Aug. 28 Prentice Invite.
