Gilman volleyball

day, the Pirates will visit Athens. Abbotsford comes to Gilman for the Pirates’ home opener on Sept. 9.

1-1 at Thorp

Gilman opened the new season by going 1-1 Thursday at the Thorp Triangular.

The host Cardinals outscored Gilman 25-19, 25-16, using late surges in each set to pull away. The Pirates responded with a 25-14, 25-18 sweep of Owen-Withee.

“Our skill and ability was equal to that of Thorp’s, however we made too many errors and mistakes in our first match of the season,” Komanec said. “When we went back to look at the match, we saw that most of our points we had earned. However we had given Thorp many of theirs on hitting errors, serving errors, communication errors and blocking errors. We found that we had actually given them over half of their 50 points. Though it’s tough to look back at that, it’s also a very good lesson right from the get go.”

Komanec said the Pirates controlled both sets against the Blackhawks.

Chaplinski had 26 assists on the night, while Tallier put down 10 kills, Gunderson and Weir had seven each, Grunseth had four and Vick added three. Weir had six block kills.

Chaplinski served five aces, Dietzler had four and Tallier and James added two apiece. Drier led Gilman with 16 digs, Tallier and Chaplinski each had nine, James had eight and Dietzler had five.

“At our Friday practice we talked a lot about communication,” Komanec said. “We have some youth on the court and even returning players that have new roles, so we just need to work those things out. We discussed and physically worked on how to avoid those communication errors so we can keep the ball in play. And in those out-of-system plays we need to be able to send a solid ball over and get ready to play defense rather than give up the point. We also spent time working on our block. We worked a lot on going up stronger and making sure that we are pressing over with our hands and returning the ball to the opponent’s court.”