Pirates pick up a pair of four-set road wins at Spencer, Abby

Conference play started well for Gilman’s volleyball team Tuesday with a 3-1 win at Spencer.

The Pirates overcame a game-two loss with a dominant third game and then they survived a back-and-forth set four where the Rockets nearly extended the match to a fifth set.

The second straight best-of-five road win for Gilman put the Pirates at 8-6 overall as they get into the heart of Eastern Cloverbelt Conference competition over the next three weeks.

The Pirates, who had to do some adjusting after Addy Vick went down with a leg injury in practice Monday, got nine kills from Claire Drier in the win, seven from Jaylyn Orth, six from Aubrey Mann, five from Allison Olynick and three from Kylee Copenhaver. Abby Chaplinski had 25 assists. Drier, Chaplinski and Olynick served two aces each.

Gilman had some strong stretches defensively, getting 18 digs from Chaplinski, 12 from Kayleigh James, eight from Jaylen Copenhaver, seven from Drier and five from Kenlyn Kroeplin. Orth and Mann had four blocks each and Olynick had two.

“Our energy was high through the night,” Gilman head coach Janice Komanec said. “The team was able to stay up mentally even when we were down or making some errors and that is so encouraging. Some of the games where we have come back this season, like set four with Abbotsford (Thursday), really have this team realizing that regardless of score we just need to settle in where we are and push ahead. We need to focus on and work for the point in front of us.”

The Pirates took the first set 25-12, breaking away from an early 6-5 lead. Mann had a kill and a block to get the run started. Kroeplin’s ace, followed by an Olynick kill and a Jaylen Copenhaver ace made it 21-8 and put it out of reach.

Gilman had a 13-11 lead in game two, but hit into some errors and Spencer grabbed momentum and won it 25-16.

“We struggled at the service line,” Komanec said. “Eleven serving errors on the night put us in some momentum losing situations which were avoidable. They had some strong servers also, and we struggled on consistently getting Abby passes that allowed her to use all of our hitters, so we were out of system more than we would have liked to have been. However, we worked hard to keep the ball in play in those situations and get a better opportunity on the next ball.”

Spencer led 4-3 early in game three following kills from Autumn Davis and Emma Nieman, but winners from Mann and Drier and a Drier ace swung the momentum. Olynick had a tip at the net and hit a crossing shot. Drier’s ace opened up a 12-5 lead and the lead steadily grew from there into a 25-11 win.

Two Shelby Frisch aces put Spencer up 129 in game four. The Pirates tied it at 14-14 on a Drier kill and finally grabbed the lead at 1918. Mann’s kill made it 21-19 and that was followed by a James push that won the point after the Pirates dug up Spencer’s block on Orth. The Rockets tied it at 22-22 on a Carmen Krause kill. Hallie Meyer dug up Drier’s attack and Krause tipped it for the point and a 23-22 Spencer lead, but the Pirates regrouped and were able to close it out with pushes by Olynick and James that found holes and Drier’s final tip off a blocker. Gilman hosts Prentice tonight, Thursday, for one last good non-conference test. In league play, the Pirates will host Owen-Withee Tuesday and travel to Neillsville on Sept. 26. Those matches start at 7:15 p.m.

In a good test for the Pirates before they got into conference play, Gilman was pushed hard by the host Abbotsford Falcons Thursday and came away with a satisfying 3-1 win.

“I think what stands out to me the most about our match with Abbotsford was the hustle,” Komanec said. “We knew they would be running a fast offense and we would need to be ready to be on defense quickly, ready to hit the floor, and ready to help our teammates out when that ball got up. The hustle that evening was great.”

That hustle was shown in some of the defensive numbers. Chaplinski had 33 digs in the four-set match, James had 25, Drier had 20 and Kroeplin and Jaylen Copenhaver were in double figures with 11 and 10.

Orth and Olynick had three blocks apiece. Drier and Addy Vick had two each.

Gilman won an extended first set 27-25 and carried that momentum into game two, winning 25-18. The Falcons avoided the sweep by taking game three 25-23 and threatened to send the match to a fifth game, but Gilman avoided that by winning the fourth set 25-23.

Drier was Gilman’s kill leader with 17. Olynick had eight, Vick had four and Kylee Copenhaver also had four.

Kroeplin led the servers with three aces. Olynick and Chaplinski had no serving errors in the win. Chaplinski had 28 assists.

“Our players were very adaptable,” Komanec said. “With the depth of our bench, we were able to call some subs to help kill momentum. With the depth in our serve receive, we were also able to easily move our serve receive around when we got into a slump. Sometimes the sub or serve receive change you’re making looks odd as it may take out a player who is doing their job and has less errors, but the girls are understanding that those changes aren’t necessarily directed at a player, but rather made to benefit the team as a whole, and they are rolling with those changes with positive attitudes.”