Pirates fall in tourney tune-up

GILMAN VOLLEYBALL

Any chance to get a volleyball match in is appreciated this fall and that was Gilman’s take following a 3-1 defeat to a solid Cadott squad Thursday on the Hornets’ home court.

Cadott finished just 2-5 in what wound up being a strong Western Cloverbelt Conference this season. But the Hornets beat bigger schools like Neillsville, Medford, Ashland and Menomonie and hold a 9-6 overall record after beating Chetek-Weyerhaeuser in their WIAA Division tournament opener Tuesday.

“We are grateful to have gotten an opportunity to play another match before playoffs,” Gilman head coach Janice Komanec said. “Between tournaments and conference play, we missed out on about 12 matches this season that would’ve been great reps for this young team.”

Cadott took the first two sets 25-16 and 25-12 before Gilman got the third one 25-16. The Hornets got on a roll in game four and closed things out with a 25-10 win.

For the Pirates, who fell to 4-5, Gracie Tallier was the kill leader for the night with eight, while Aubrey Syryczuk and Tatum Weir had four apiece, Madisyn James had three and Emma Grunseth added two. James had nine assists and Grunseth had eight.

Grunseth, Tallier, Ellie Drier and James had two service aces apiece and Syryczuk added one.

Weir recorded three blocks at the net, while Tallier and Drier led the team with 13 digs each. James had 12 and Syryczuk dug up eight balls.

Regional match postponed

Tuesday’s snowstorm forced the postponement of Gilman’s WIAA Division 4 regional opener with New Auburn to Wednesday, after this week’s deadline for The Star News.

The winner of the match between the fifth-seeded Trojans and fourth-seeded Pirates is at top-seeded McDonell Central tonight, Thursday, for a 7 p.m. regional semifinal.

The other semifinal has third-seeded Lake Holcombe visiting second-seeded Cornell in a neighborhood rivalry match.

The regional final will be played Saturday at 7 p.m. on the court of the higher seeded team.