Still work to do for Pirates after losses to Columbus, Abby

GILMAN VOLLEYBALL

The Gilman Pirates felt the early-season schedule would have them prepared for Tuesday’s Eastern Cloverbelt Conference volleyball opener at Columbus Catholic, but they unfortunately weren’t on top of their game and the Lady Dons began their league title defense with an easy 3-0 sweep.

Coupled with a 3-0 home loss to Abbotsford on Thursday, the Pirates are in a regroup mode as the midway point of the season and full-time conference play nears.

“We were not as competitive with Abbotsford or Columbus as we would have liked to have been,” Gilman head coach Janice Komanec said. “As we go back and watch video of both games we can find some really great plays and aggressiveness but we continue to just have too many errors –– and too many in a row.”

Led by 12 kills and four aces from standout Dorci Walker, Columbus took set one 25-14, dominated set two 25-11 and reversed an early deficit to take set three 25-14.

Kill totals were low for the Pirates. Gracie Tallier had three, Claire Drier, Tatum Weir and Emma Grunseth had two each. Kenlyn Kroeplin led Gilman with two service aces, while Tallier, Abby Chaplinski and Grunseth had one each. Chaplinski had nine assists.

Tallier and Chaplinski led the team with seven digs. Kayleigh James had six and Drier added four.

“We were up in set three by two to three points and within a couple servers we were down by four, not by their earned points but our errors,” Komanec said. “At this time we just need to buckle down and continue to work on all skills so they become more consistent. We need to become more dependable in all our skills. We just need to continue to strive for clean volleyball and great communication.”

Gilman steps outside of the conference one more time tonight, Thursday, with a visit to Prentice. The Pirates are home for two ECC matchups with Colby and Spencer Tuesday and Thursday before they’ll get tested again at the Sept. 25 Medford Invitational.

In the their home opener Thursday, the Pirates got hit hard in the opening set with Abbotsford but recovered enough to make the second and third sets competitive. But they weren’t quite able to pull either set out.

The Falcons, who hope to contend in the Marawood North with teams like Athens, Prentice and Phillips, took the match 25-13, 25-22, 25-20.

“Right now we are putting ourselves in a situation where we earn one point and then allow our opponent to earn two or three in a row and then we again are only earning one before giving the ball back,” Komanec said. “We need to fight to reverse this. We need to be striving for two or three or four points in a row and allowing our opponent only one before we answer back. “

Tallier had seven kills in this match, Weir had five, Grunseth added three and Drier had two. Chaplinski had 15 assists.

Grunseth served a pair of aces, while Tallier, Chaplinski and Kya Dietzler had one apiece.

Weir had three block kills and Ava Gunderson had two. Tallier led Gilman with 11 digs. Chaplinski and Drier had six apiece, while James and Dietzler added five each.