WIAA DIV 4 VOLLEYBALL - Even with misses, Pirates win in 3

WIAA DIV 4 VOLLEYBALL

A first-round bye gave the Gilman Pirates 48 extra hours to wait until starting WIAA Division 4 volleyball tournament play and that maybe led to them being a little too amped up at the start of Thursday’s regional semifinal match with New Auburn.

The Pirates’ troubles keeping the ball in bounds at times kept the seventhseeded Trojans close in each set, but ultimately, the Pirates were the better team both offensively and defensively and secured a 3-0 sweep to advance to Saturday’s WIAA Division 4 regional final with Rib Lake.

Gilman jumped ahead 9-1 in game one but then things evened out the rest of the way in a set the Pirates won 25-19 and New Auburn held an 11-9 lead in game two when Gilman head coach Janice Komanec said it was time for a timeout and a reboot.

“I was like, ‘you guys, if we just control the ball and keep it in every time, we have this,’” Komanec said. “They will give us points. So not only on those missed serves did we lose how many points, but we probably would’ve earned points against them. When we were down in set two, that’s what we focused on, being consistent. At the end of set two we had already missed nine serves and that’s not OK.”

As it turned out, game two was the only set where second-seeded Gilman ever found itself behind against a young, but scrappy New Auburn squad. The Pirates were balanced offensively, were very good at covering their blockers and digging up blocked balls and turned several defensive saves into offensive points while earning their 16th win of the season and a regional final on their home court.

“Very fun, very exciting to be in the regional final,” Komanec said. “It’s very exciting to have it here in town. I’m just so happy for these girls. I truly am. I told them I’m happy to be a part of this and I’m happy that I get to coach a regional final, but I’m just so much happier for them that they are here that they earned getting here and I hope they focus on what they’re capable of going into Saturday night.”

Danielle Mann had an early ace, Claire Drier had a big kill and Jaylyn Orth put down a block kill to help Gilman set the early tone in game one, but then some of the long shots sailing past the back line started to show up and New Auburn hung around, getting as close as 13-11. Allison Olynick’s kill and Drier’s winner off a block got Gilman going again. Kayleigh James served an ace for a 22-15 lead, Orth kept an attack in bounds in the deep corner at 23-16 and Drier banged another off a block to clinch the opener at 25-19.

“We’re working a lot on trying to make our offense more diverse,” Komanec said. “We’re working on roll shots, we’re working on tips, we’re working on mixing the ball because we do have some hitters who can hit big, but if they just hit and hit and hit the other team is just going to dig us. At this level, the other team is just going to set up and dig us. We’ve been working on having more options offensively.”

Down 11-9, Gilman came out of its timeout swinging and very quickly regained the lead at 16-13. Bryn Hendricks hit a winner at 20-15, Drier served an ace at 22-15, Orth again hit the corner at 2316, Mann got a kill and finished the game with a tip chance that came off a teammate’s dig save to clinch it at 25-17.

Game three again started close at 8-8 when the Pirates nudged ahead and stayed there. Kenlyn Kroeplin’s ace got it started. Mann, Drier, Olynick, Hendricks and Orth all had kills and Kroeplin added another late ace as Gilman closed out the match at 25-20.

Drier led Gilman with 11 kills. Olynick and Orth had strong nights with six apiece and Mann and Hendricks put down five each. James, Kroeplin and Mann served two aces apiece. Abby Chaplinski had 28 assists.

Four players had double-digit dig totals. Drier had 14, Chaplinski and James had 13 each and Mann had 11.

“We are scrappy defensively,” Komanec said. “That’s been a strength of ours. If we’re in the right mindset, we can be a very strong defensive team. What we have to focus on is serve receive and making sure that is consistent. We also have some hitters putting in a lot of work right now. We’re seeing some stronger hitting than we had at the beginning of the season.

“All season from day one, we have talked about where do we want to be come playoffs,” Komanec added. “Yes, we want to win our tournaments. Yes, we want to do well in conference. Yes, we have those goals, but what’s the most important thing? The most important thing was setting our eyes on Oct. 17. And we’re here now. It has to be our best. So seeing some of these hitters taking more consistent, stronger swings is really fantastic for us.”