Pirates beaten at Bloomer, but good finish nets WIAA home match

GILMAN VOLLEYBALL

A third-place finish in the Eastern Cloverbelt put Gilman’s volleyball team into a conference crossover with the Western Cloverbelt’s newest formidable member Tuesday night.

The Pirates were swept by Bloomer 3-0 in the regular-season finale, marking the second time they’ve been swept this year by the Blackhawks, who are in their first year as a Western Cloverbelt squad. They moved in this year while Altoona moved out to the Middle Border Conference.

The Blackhawks, who, as Gilman knew from the Sept. 25 Medford Invite, feature a powerful hitting group in their front line took Tuesday’s match 25-10, 2521, 25-19 to improve to 21-13 overall. Gilman finished the regular season at 12-13 and had won four of their last five matches coming into Tuesday’s match.

“Going 4-2 over the course of the last week is obviously a positive for us as we come into the playoffs,” Gilman head coach Janice Komanec said. Disciplined play and consistency is what we’ve been working for all season and that’s what we will continue to strive for as we head into playoffs.”

Tatum Weir stood up to Bloomer’s attacks and collected five blocks on the night, while Emma Grunseth had two and Ava Gunderson, Hannah Vick and Claire Drier had one apiece. Gracie Tallier had five kills, Gunderson had four, Weir had three and Grunseth had two. Abby Chaplinski set up the hitters with 12 assists.

Tallier served two aces, while Ellie Drier and Kenlyn Kroeplin had one each. Ellie Drier led Gilman with 10 digs, Chaplinski had eight, Tallier had five, Kya Dietzler had four and Kayleigh James added three.

It was a tough Tuesday for the Eastern Cloverbelt, who was swept in all six matches that were held. The overall Cloverbelt championship is set for tonight, Thursday, with Eastern champion Columbus Catholic visiting Western champ Fall Creek.

Gilman drew the seventh seed in the WIAA Division 4 sectional half-bracket and will host 10th-seeded Frederic in the regional opener on Tuesday night at 7 p.m. The winner will likely head to Eau Claire on Oct. 21 to face Immanuel Lutheran. The second-seeded Lancers host 15th-seeded Siren on Tuesday. Turtle Lake is the bracket’s number-one seed.

3rd on Saturday

Gilman likely secured the seven seed with a strong showing at its annual invitational. The Pirates went 3-1 on the day and swept Wittenberg-Birnamwood 25-22, 25-22 in the third-place match. Phillips swept Laona-Wabeno 2-0 in the championship.

In pool play, the Pirates had little trouble with Alma Center Lincoln in a 25-9, 25-17 sweep. Laona-Wabeno took a good second-round match 26-24, 25-19, but Gilman rebounded with a 25-17, 25-23 win over Cornell, who is on top of the East Lakeland Conference.

“The wins on Saturday helped us to get the seven seed in our bracket, so we’re grateful to be home in the first round of the playoffs,” Komanec said.

Chaplinski had 70 assists on the day with Tallier getting 22 of the kills and Weir adding 20. Gunderson had 15 kills and Grunseth and Vick each had nine. Dietzler had a team-high five aces, while Tallier had four, while James and Ellie Drier had three each.

Defensively, Weir collected 14 blocks, Grunseth had nine, Gunderson had six and Vick had five. Ellie Drier had 31 digs, while Tallier and Chaplinski had 30 each. James had 23 and Dietzler had 21.

Alma Center Lincoln defeated Owen-Withee 2-1 in the fifth-place match and Cornell beat Flambeau for seventh place.

Gilman 3, Greenwood 2

Gilman nailed down its third-place standing in the conference Thursday with a hard-fought 3-2 win at Greenwood. The victory put Gilman at 5-2 in the league standings behind Columbus Catholic (7-0) and Neillsville (6-1). Colby (4-3) finished fourth.

The upset-minded Indians fell to 2-5 with Thursday’s loss.

The match was a true back-and-forth affair. Gilman took the opener 25-23, while Greenwood got some clutch plays late to take game two 27-25. The Pirates seemingly grabbed control with a 25-17 win, but Greenwood answered 25-18.

Gilman took command for good with a 15-6 win in game five.

Ellie Drier again led the team in digs with 29. Tallier had 18, James had 15 and Chaplinski added 10. Gunderson had three blocks and Weir had two. Drier also led the team with four aces. Dietzler had three and Tallier had two.

Tallier led the Pirates with 15 kills. Weir and Grunseth had nine each. Gunderson had six. Chaplinski had 34 assists.

Ellie Drier