Pirates get their swagger back during a much-improved week
GILMAN VOLLEYBALL
A week after hitting the season’s low point with an 0-2 start in Eastern Cloverbelt Conference play, the Gilman volleyball team seems to have regained its early-season swagger.
The Pirates won five of six matches during the week including Tuesday’s 3-0 sweep of Neillsville which put them back at .500 in league play at 2-2 and boosted their overall record to 11-7. The Pirates went 3-1 at Saturday’s Medford Invitational and got their first conference win Thursday at Owen-Withee.
Gilman got offensive production from the service line, collecting 15 aces. At the net they got good swings from all of their front-row players, most notably Claire Drier and Bryn Hendricks, who had seven kills apiece.
Abby Chaplinski had one of those nights where everything seemed to fall for her as she finished with six aces to go along with 20 assists.
“In these last games our ball control has been much better in every way,” Gilman head coach Janice Komanec said. “Our passing and serve receive has been more accurate and our hitters are taking better swings and mixing in some tips. Our serving has been more consistent and more aggressive. Even more importantly, we have had better communication and our overall pace of play has been faster.”
Gilman never trailed in Tuesday’s first two games. Chaplinski immediately tested Neillsville’s serve receive with two aces and added another for a quick 6-1 lead in game one. Allison Olynick added an ace at 10-2 and Drier’s diving dig led to a Warrior miscue and a 12-2 lead. The lead hit 11 at 14-3 before Neillsville made a run, getting as close as 15-11, but Chaplinski set up Drier for a kill, Drier landed a hard roll shot and Kayleigh James served an ace to push the lead back to seven. Chaplinski hit yet another ace to make it 20-12, Hendricks hit a couple of winners and Jaylyn Orth’s swing produced the final point in a 25-20 win.
Game two was similar. Aces from Chaplinski and Drier and a Hendricks kill from the right side opened up a 6-1 lead. Drier drilled a big-time shot from the back row and Orth got two blocks in a row to make it 9-2. Neillsville countered with an 8-1 run to tie it at 10-10, but Hendricks and Orth got kills to keep the Pirates in front, Chaplinski surprised the Warriors with a dump kill, then she scored with a roll and hit two more tough serves while Danielle Mann added a block to push the lead to 18-12. Neillsville got within three but the Drier’s hard shot off a blocker sailed out of bounds and then she found the floor with a kill to seal another 25-20 win. Neillsville finally found some early momentum in game three, building a 12-8 lead. Hendricks pushed one through a Warrior block to finally give Gilman the lead for good at 16-15. That was followed by a Mann ace and Orth pouncing on a bad set by the Warriors. Gilman’s highlight play of the match came next when Drier went way beyond the back corner to keep a ball in play, Mann bumped it over the net and Neillsville misplayed it to put the Pirates up 19-15. The Pirates closed it out from there 25-17.
Mann finished with six kills, Orth had five and Olynick had two. Mann had three blocks and Orth finished with two. Drier had three aces and Olynick and James had two each. James led the Pirates with 15 digs, while Mann, Chaplinski and Drier had seven apiece.
Statistics weren’t available at press time for the 3-0 sweep at Owen-Withee.
Gilman is back at home tonight, Thursday, celebrating Senior Night with what figures to be a tight match against Loyal, who is off to a 3-1 start in league play. Gilman is at Greenwood Tuesday and closes out conference play Oct. 5 at Columbus Catholic, the state’s topranked team in Division 4.
The Gilman Invitational is set for Oct. 7.
