GILMAN VOLLEYBALL - Search for consistency continues for Pirates in two match losses

GILMAN VOLLEYBALL

For two games Tuesday the Gilman Pirates played the type of volleyball they needed to beat Eastern Cloverbelt Conference co-leader Loyal, but the Greyhounds took control after that and came away 3-1 winners on their home floor.

The Greyhounds feature a solid frontrow presence with players like Molly Zvolena and Olivia Nikolai outside and Addysen Wolf in the middle, but their ability to keep the ball in play and keep rallies alive showed as the match progressed and allowed them to wear down the Pirates. This loss and a tough five-set loss at Neillsville Thursday dropped Gilman to 2-2 in conference play and 9-9 overall.

“The Thursday night loss against Neillsville was tough for us,” Gilman head coach Janice Komanec said. “They are definitely a team we should’ve been able to rise above. We struggled to get momentum and energy going. We were pretty flat and we were playing defensively the whole night.

“Against a much stronger Loyal team, we had some moments of very good volleyball, but still too much inconsistency and too many errors in attack and serving and passing accuracy,” Komanec added. “We also struggled defending their middle attack. Our double block wasn’t always going up and when it was, it was just a bit late.”

Loyal sits at 4-0, tied with Columbus Catholic for first place in the Eastern Cloverbelt. The Greyhounds are 20-5 as they gear up for an exciting final stretch of league play that includes a match at 3-1 Colby tonight, Thursday, and another at Columbus Catholic on Oct. 10.

A good first set Tuesday could’ve gone either way. The Greyhounds held leads of two to four points most of the way. Gilman got within 23-21 when Claire Drier pounded an attack off a blocker, but Zvolena did the same. Jaylyn Orth got a kill for Gilman, but at the end of back-andforth scramble, Zvolena put down one more kill to clinch Loyal’s 25-22 win.

Orth’s kill capped a long rally and put Gilman ahead 11-7 in game two. The Pirates never gave up the lead in that set, but Loyal tried to take it away, getting within one three times and then tying it 20-20. Orth’s kill, a Loyal error, Drier’s kill and a successful deep push by Abby Chaplinski got Gilman to set point at 2420. After two Zvolena kills, she hit one too long and Gilman’s 25-22 win tied the match at a game apiece.

Allison Olynick’s tip got Gilman within 7-5 early in game three, but Loyal knocked the Pirates on their heels with a 13-4 run that opened up a 20-9 lead. The Pirates didn’t recover and fell 25-15. Game four was no better for the visitors, who fell behind 20-8 and lost the set 25-12.

Gilman is back at home tonight, Thursday, hosting last-place Greenwood for its Dig Pink fundraiser night. Gilman closes conference play with a tough week as it hosts Columbus Catholic Tuesday and visits Colby Oct. 10 in 7:15 p.m. matches.

“Despite the 0-2 record this week, we need to reset and focus on what’s ahead,” Komanec said. “If we can be learning from these losses, we can be applying better ball in the games ahead.”

Warriors 3, Pirates 2

Momentum didn’t stay with either side long at any point of Thursday’s five-set marathon in Neillsville, but the host Warriors had the last run, scoring the last three points of game five to defeat the Pirates 3-2.

With the exception of game two, big runs were few and far between and any run of significance seemed to be matched by the other team, predictably creating a match that went the distance.

The first set was one Gilman wished it had back. The Pirates forged ahead 10-6 with a push from Jaylyn Orth at the net and 12-7 following an Aubrey Mann kill and Jaylen Copenhaver ace. Claire Drier had two kills for a 16-11 lead, Neillsville wasn’t able to cover an Orth block at 18-13 and Abby Chaplinski rolled an ace over the net at 20-15.

But the Warriors never let Gilman get too far away and a 5-0 spurt gave them a 23-22 lead. Drier’s tip tied it but Neillsville got the next two points to steal it 25-23.

Game two was tied 7-7 when Neillsville went on a 5-1 run, but Gilman countered to get within 12-11. That’s when the Warriors got on their most sustained run of the match, outscoring Gilman 13-6 from there for a 25-17 win and a 2-0 lead in the match.

Game three went back and forth. Neillsville threatened to sweep, nudging ahead 17-15, but the Pirates hung in, trading points until a 4-0 spurt, capped by an Allison Olynick ace, put them up 21-19. Kenlyn Kroeplin added an ace, Drier powered a shot through a block and Chaplinski had two welltimed dump shots to close out the 25-21 win.

The Warriors jumped ahead 4-0 in the fourth set, Gilman surged ahead 14-10, the Warriors scored the next five and then the teams see-sawed until the last three points. Addy Vick’s deep roll was misplayed by Neillsville, Drier served an ace and Vick and Copenhaver teamed up for a block at set point for a 25-21 win that sent the match to game five.

Neillsville had early momentum, going up 7-2 and 11-6, but Copenhaver scored on a push and a spike kill to get Gilman going. The Pirates tied it at 12-12 on another well-timed dump from Chaplinski, but out of a timeout, Neillsville’s Sydney Subke powered an attack through Gilman’s block at 13-12, the Pirates couldn’t get a couple of attacks past Keltie Schoen, leading to Madi Davel’s kill at 14-12 and a hitting error ended it at 15-12.