WIAA DIV. 5 VOLLEYBALL - Gilman shakes off set one, rolls past O-W for D5 regional title

WIAA DIV. 5 VOLLEYBALL

The wait for another WIAA volleyball regional championship wasn’t nearly as long as the last one for the Gilman Pirates, who made it back-to-back titles Saturday with a 3-1 win over third-seeded Owen-Withee in the regional final.

The Blackhawks got the attention of everyone in Gilman’s gymnasium by leading the first set from start to finish, but the second-seeded Pirates started hitting more consistently in the second set and rolled from their to their fourth victory of the season over their Eastern Cloverbelt Conference rivals.

“I’m overjoyed,” senior libero Kayleigh James said. “I know we had a little bit of a scare in the first game. But personally I never feel like none of us ever let down. I feel like none of us were worried. We were like, ‘OK, we lost the first set, it’s 0-0, we can get the next three. That’s no challenge for us.’ To be able to do it for a second year in a row after not doing in school history for so long, I’m so blessed. It’s so amazing.”

Before last year, Gilman hadn’t won a regional title since 2000. Tonight, Thursday, Gilman (18-10) will make its second straight appearance in a sectional final, traveling to top-seeded Columbus Catholic (23-15) for the 7 p.m. WIAA Division 5 sectional semifinal. The winner advances to Saturday’s sectional championship match at Almond-Bancroft against either Royall or Ithaca.

“It’s so fun,” Gilman head coach Janice Komanec said. “I told the girls before the match that I’m so grateful I get to be here because of them. Getting to do this again this year and play again here on the home court for a regional plaque and put another one in that trophy case is very exciting and I’m very grateful to be a part of what these girls are doing.”

While Owen-Withee (11-14) played quite well while taking the first set 25-16, Gilman also helped the Blackhawks out by reverting back to its mid-season issues of not keeping the ball in play.

“It ended up 25-16 and we had nine missed serves and attacks,” Komanec said. “That’s not even counting our miscommunications. We had a couple times where we were in the net. We just went into the huddle and I told them, ‘I’m not worried. Let’s just clean it up, be consistent, start mixing in some tips.’ We were taking some good swings and we were just digging everything. But we were sending everything deep and they were digging it. We had to start moving it around, we had to start tipping.”

It didn’t take long for Gilman to settle down in the second set. Outside hitter Claire Drier hit on a couple of kills, got an easy point on a Blackhawk overpass and served an ace to help the Pirates jump ahead 11-4. Then senior middle Jaylyn Orth took over, getting a block and three kills in a surge that put the Pirates up 2110. Aubrey Mann and Drier added kills. Then Drier got blocked, but stayed with the point and get a tip for set point at 2415. The Pirates won the set 25-16 to even the match.

Orth continued to be a force in set three, getting a couple of kills and an early block. Orth finished the match with a team-high 13 kills on 25 attempts with five errors for a strong .320 hitting percentage. Drier added 10 kills in the win and Mann had seven.

“It was amazing,” Orth said. “I just found the open spots on the blocks and I had to swing over them. I tried jumping my hardest and just finding the open spots. I was just trying to do my hardest. Trying to get everywhere blocking on the court as fast as I could.”

“Every single time she went up to hit, I was just like, kill, and it was,” James said. “Every single time, I was like, ‘set Jaylyn, set Jaylyn.’ It was so nice to see that. No matter what, if we set it to her, we could get the point.”

“She showed up,” Komanec said. “Just talking to her I’m like, ‘if you keep swinging like that, you’re going to take us places.’” Orth rolled a shot for a score off a Blackhawk free ball to give Gilman a 20-15 lead in game three. Abby Chaplinski got a chance to swing and tooled a blocker for the next point and she and Allie Olynick teamed up for a block to clinch the set at 25-15 as the Blackhawks were now the team having trouble keeping plays alive.

“The roles completely reversed and we just took control,” James said. “We really capitalized on it.”

Owen-Withee led very early in game four 4-2, but it didn’t last long. A Chaplinski ace gave Gilman a 6-4 lead and a Drier ace made it 9-5. Mann got a kill off an overpass and then found a hole with a deep push. Orth’s kill hit the back line for a 12-6 lead. Addy Vick got a kill at 14-7. The Pirates maintained the lead from there, finishing it off at 25-15 on a Mann kill.

Gilman was pretty much perfect in serving after the first set and finished 90 for 95 (94.7%) with eight aces. Drier had four and Olynick and Chaplinski and two each. Chaplinski was 21 for 21 and Olynick was 14 for 14. Orth was involved in four total blocks, while Chaplinski and Mann had three each. The back row was superb throughout the match as James had 27 digs, Chaplinski had 26 and Drier had 23.

“Those huge hustle plays are huge momentum builders,” Komanec said. “We’re constantly telling the girls to get after that ball you don’t think you can get. Because once you start to get a hand on it, then you realize if I would’ve been that much quicker I can dig that. Then you just start to get more and more and more digs. Our defense did well. They do a really nice job.”

“I think one of the main things is, us and Owen, we know each other so well,” James said. “It’s hard to find new spots and it’s hard for them to find new spots. So we kinda just have to stay consistent at this point. If you aren’t consistent, then they’re going to capitalize on it. If we are consistent, then we are going to capitalize.”

Pirates 3, Royals 1

Gilman began its WIAA tournament push Thursday by taking a regional semifinal match over seventh-seeded Wisconsin Rapids Assumption (6-21) in four games.

Drier had a team-high 17 kills in the win, while Orth had 11 and Mann added seven. The Pirates were 85 for 89 from the service line (95.5%) with 12 aces, including four from Jaylen Copenhaver and three from Chaplinski. Olynick and Vick were involved in three blocks each.

Chaplinski had 38 assists and 17 digs. James had 15 digs and five assists. Drier had 12 digs and Kenlyn Kroeplin had 10.

The Pirates pulled away from an early 4-4 tie in game one behind two Drier aces. Assumption rallied for a 12-10 lead. After a timeout, Gilman re-established control behind kills from Olynick and Orth and two Chaplinski aces. The highlight point at 19-14 was achieved with consecutive diving saves by Copenhaver and James. The third touch went to Chaplinski, who punched the ball over the net left-handed. Orth and Mann teamed up for the block to finally get the point. Gilman won the set 25-17.

Behind Copenhaver’s serving, Gilman finished game two on a 12-0 run and won 25-7. Copenhaver had two aces in the run and Drier had a couple of kills. The Royals took a 16-8 lead in the third set, looking to avoid the sweep. Gilman got within three several times, but could never push past that point and fell 25-17.

The Royals led the fourth set 12-10 before Kylee Copenhaver gave the Pirates a spark, coming off the bench to drill an attack off a Royal blocker. Two Mann kills and two Kroeplin aces sent the Pirates on their way to the clinching 25-20 win.

“Assumption was solid,” Komanec said. “We played good defense, we hustled. We’re starting to do some smart things. We’ve been working on tip spotting and hitting line and now you can tell the girls are confident doing that. The other thing that we have, our bench is so deep and our options are so big. These girls, whatever I change or whatever I think I need to do they adapt and they figure it out.”

Senior Kayleigh James (5) has the honor of taking the WIAA Divison 5 regional championship plaque from athletic director Robin Rosemeyer while her teammates show their excitement following Saturday’s regional final win. MATT FREY/THE STAR NEWS