run that made it 16-9. ….

run that made it 16-9.

The Rockets got back into it thanks to an ace from Heavyn Kind, a tip from Jorie Meyer, two aces from Meyer, a Mallori Barth kill and an ace off the net from Alexa Stange, making it 22-20. The Rockets got within 24-23 but a missed serve sealed Gilman’s 25-23 win.

“After the first set, we talked about how they gave us points and we’ll take them, but we can’t be giving any back,” Komanec said. “We have to be earning everything. They got better each game. They got more consistent. They had a lot of hitting errors in the first set, but they started hitting more consistently.”

Game three was tied 3-3 early when Gilman went ahead for good with Ava Gunderson and Weir getting points at the net and Grunseth and Chaplinski serving aces in an 11-1 run that made it 14-4. Spencer got no closer than eight the rest of the way. Match point at 25-11 came on an outstanding rally that featured several saves by both teams before Kind’s push attempt carried too far and went out of bounds.

Grunseth led the Pirates with eight kills. Weir and Tallier had six apiece. Chaplinski had 24 assists.