GILMAN VOLLEYBALL - Pirates start slow, finish strong, win the Prentice Invite
The Gilman Pirates regrouped after a rough start, won four straight matches and found themselves holding the team championship trophy when all was said and done at Saturday’s Prentice Volleyball Invitational.
After an opening loss to Mellen, Gilman turned things around with a two-game sweep of host Prentice and then controlled its final three matches to end the day tied atop the standings with Prentice. Gilman’s head-to-head win broke the tie.
The Pirates earned the program’s second Prentice Invite title in three years.
“I am so proud of these girls and the way they turned things around on Saturday,” head coach Janice Komanec said. “I am also very happy for them that they were able to earn that first-place finish together as a team. They really do love competing together. But we need to work now to keep moving up and improving our level of play every practice and every game. Conference play begins soon, and we are definitely going to meet some tougher competition once it does.”
Mellen, who later lost to Prentice and Butternut, rattled Gilman in the first round by coming back from a 19-12 deficit in game one to steal it 28-26. The Granite Diggers rode that momentum to a 25-17 win and a twogame sweep.
“We were up most of set one,” Komanec said. “But errors and inconsistent ball handling gave away the momentum and the set. Set two was very rough. We were out of system most of the set. We made multiple subs looking for the right combination of players, but we couldn’t find it.
“After that match we talked about consistency and the challenge to rise up,” she added. “We needed girls to rise up to their highest level if we were going to be competitive the rest of the day. And that’s just what happened. We started to do everything more consistently and our errors decreased greatly.”
Obviously, the win over Prentice was the big one. Both sets were tightly contested but Gilman prevailed in both 25-23, 25-21.
From there, Gilman took care of Medford’s JV team 25-15, 25-21, Mercer 25-19, 25-9 and Butternut 25-16, 2517.
“In our match against Medford JV we were able to mix some girls a little more,” Komanec said. “Some were able to get a little extra playing time in the position they are working for and some got to try out positions that they may want to develop for future opportunities.”
The immediate future has Gilman hosting a solid Abbotsford squad for the Pirates’ home opener tonight, Thursday, at 7:15 p.m. After a weekend off, Gilman heads back to Prentice Monday for a 7 p.m. non-conference matchup. Eastern Cloverbelt Conference competition then gets underway Tuesday when Gilman hosts the Spencer Rockets at 7:15 p.m.
The Pirates, now 5-7, will need to be on their game to win all three matches, and Komanec hopes Saturday’s win has them on their way.
“We have seen in a number of matches so far this season, including Owen-Withee and Mellen and our two matches with Athens, that a consistency in ball handling and communication would have given us the edge and the win. We just need girls to build their confidence as we practice and compete and rise up to the challenge.”
