Pirates trying to find the winning formula from earlier this season

GILMAN VOLLEYBALL

A first-set win Tuesday had Gilman thinking its volleyball losing streak would end at four, but the Spencer Rockets turned things around in game two and kept the Pirates winless in September with a 3-1 Eastern Cloverbelt Conference victory.

The defeat put Gilman at a bit of a surprising 0-2 in conference play and 6-6 overall, not what the Pirates were thinking when they started the year 6-1.

The Rockets, who improved to 1-1, 7-11, got good nights from outside hitter Hannah Reckner and middles Claudia Krause and Carmen Krause, the latter being a freshman, and used the momentum gained from holding off a late Gilman rally in game two to secure the program’s first win over Gilman since 2017.

Gilman head coach Janice Komanec said Spencer appears to be an improving squad after struggling the last few years and showed they wanted to win. As for her team, Komanec said the Pirates need to find that drive internally they had when the season began.

“I know how the girls can play,” Komanec said. “I saw it against Prentice early in the year, I saw it against Athens. I’m not going to just settle. As always, the goal every year is to be playing well when it matters at the end. That’s still the goal. Now we just have to get there in time.”

Jaylen Copenhaver came off the bench in game one and gave Gilman a spark with a little serving run and a kill to help the Pirates grab a 16-8 lead. Abby Chaplinski’s hard-hit ace made it 21-11, but Spencer chipped away and got within 23-18 during a serving run by Reckner before an exchange of missed serves and a hard tip by Bryn Hendricks capped Gilman’s 25-19 win.

Spencer made the first run in game two, going up 11-6 and 16-10 before the Pirates rallied. Claire Drier got a touch, then Chaplinski’s hard serves gave the Rockets fits. Drier tapped a free ball and then got a hard-hit kill to tie the set at 1717 and put the Pirates in position to go up 2-0 in the match.

But the Rockets responded with an 8-1 run that included kills by Claudia Krause and Reckner and was capped by a hard kill from Carmen Krause that finished the set at 25-18 and capped possibly the most pivotal run of the match.

Gilman really stumbled out of the gate in game three, trailing 15-5 and 20-7 before a late run made it interesting. Danielle Mann, Allison Olynick and Jaylyn Orth had kills but the deficit was just too much to overcome in a 25-17 loss.

A mini-run by the Rockets in game four turned a 7-6 lead into a 13-7 lead and that was enough of a gap that Gilman, again, just couldn’t overcome it. Mann got a kill, as did Orth and Orth also rejected Carmen Krause for a point. Chaplinski’s dump made it 16-13 and forced Spencer to call a timeout. The Rockets regrouped and outscored Gilman 9-6 the rest of the way to close out the match at 25-19.

Drier’s nine kills led the Pirates. Mann had eight, Chaplinski had six, while Orth and Hendricks put down five apiece and Olynick chipped in with four. Orth had two solo blocks.

Chaplinski served up four aces, while Mann and Kayleigh James had two each. James led Gilman with 21 digs and Chaplinski had 17.

Komanec said the immediate mission going forward is finding more consistency in all areas of the game, and that starts with strong serve receive and passing as well as defensive positioning.

Gilman is at Owen-Withee tonight, Thursday, to face a Blackhawks team that beat it 2-0 in the season’s first match back on Aug. 23. The Pirates will get tested Saturday at the nine-team Medford Invitational, opening in a pool that includes McDonell Central and Three Lakes. League play continues next week with home matches against Neillsville on Tuesday and Loyal on Sept. 28 that start at 7:15 p.m.

On Tuesday, the Pirates are planning to recognize the first Gilman volleyball team of 50 years ago. The Loyal match will be Senior Night.

Prentice 3, Gilman 0

The Pirates beat Prentice 2-1 on Aug. 26 on their way to winning Prentice’s Invitational, but on Thursday, the Buccaneers got even by sweeping the visiting Pirates 3-0 in non-conference play.

Prentice took game one 25-20 and then won the last two sets 25-18 and 25-18. The Buccaneers, who are in the thick of the Marawood North championship chase after beating Athens Tuesday and sit at 20-5 overall, were led by Kali Heikkinen’s 16 kills.

Gilman got seven kills from Drier, six from Mann and two from Chaplinski.