Pirates stung in fifth game at Colby, had chances at Abby

GILMAN VOLLEYBALL

After prepping with a tough early non-conference schedule, the Gilman Pirates hoped to be ready to rock with the start of Eastern Cloverbelt Conference competition Tuesday at Colby.

The host Hornets, however, had other ideas in Tuesday’s league opener, hanging in there after Gilman took 1-0 and 2-1 leads and then pouncing on the Pirates’ miscues down the stretch to earn a five-set victory.

The fifth game was tied 9-9 when Colby finished things off at 15-9 with a run that started with a missed serve by the Pirates and then included a couple of key block kills by Colby, a couple of hitting errors by Gilman and a kill off a free ball that ended it. Overall, Gilman had more than 55 unforced errors in the match, according to head coach Janice Komanec.

The loss dropped Gilman to 4-5 overall and put an early dent into its hopes of challenging for a conference title, though there is still time to climb back into the race.

Gilman’s play was solid in the opening set. It was an 11-10 game when the Pirates pulled away with a 9-2 run that opened up a 20-12 edge. Gracie Tallier had three straight winners in that run, powering an attack off a block, then perfectly hitting the line off an Abby Chaplinski assist and then burying a shot in the corner to force a Hornet timeout at 15-11. Chaplinski’s ace made it 17-11 and Claire Drier added kills at 20-12 and 21-13. Bryn Hendricks got a touch for a winner at 2316 and Tallier’s big kill punctuated the 25-18 opening win.

Gilman led 9-8 in set two following a Tshiya Keepers tip, but things slowly unraveled after that and the Hornets went on a 17-7 surge to win 25-16 and even the match. But the Pirates pulled things together and played solidly again in set three. When they did that, the Hornets couldn’t keep pace.

Danielle Mann helped spring Gilman to a quick 4-0 lead with three tough serves, two of which went for aces. Tallier hit two more winners and Drier got a big block to make it 7-2. Tallier’s back-row attack rolled over the net and fell at 12-5 and Drier got a tip off a Weir assist on the next play. The lead hit nine at 16-7 when Colby made a mini run to pull within 20-16. But Gilman stopped that run and closed out the 25-18 win on kills by Weir and Chaplinski.

Gilman missed its chance to close out the match in game four with the pivotal run taking place midway through. Colby turned a 12-11 lead into a 19-14 edge and was able to keep that distance the rest of the way in its 25-21 win that sent the match to the decisive fifth game.

Again, Mann’s serves sparked Gilman to a 3-0 lead. It was 4-1 after a Weir kill. But four straight points by Colby turned the momentum. The last of those came on a dig of a powerful Tallier attack that flew back over the net and hit Gilman’s sideline to put the Hornets up 5-4. The teams went back and forth to 9-9, including a pair of crucial missed serves by the Pirates, before Colby’s finishing run.

Tallier had 16 kills to lead the Pirates. Claire Drier had seven and Weir had six. Chaplinski had 27 assists and Mann had two aces. Claire Drier, Keepers and Weir had two block kills apiece. Ellie Drier led Gilman with 29 digs. Chaplinski had 20, Tallier had 14 and Kenlyn Kroeplin and Kayleigh James had seven each.

Gilman gets one more tough nonconference matchup tonight, Thursday, when it hosts Prentice, the state’s thirdranked team in Division 4. Conference play resumes next week with a match at Spencer Tuesday and another at home against Owen-Withee on Sept. 22.

It felt like Gilman was fighting an uphill battle throughout Thursday’s non-conference match at Abbotsford, yet the Pirates gave themselves two great chances to win sets but couldn’t close the deal in either one in a 3-1 loss to the Falcons.

In another early-season match against a high-quality opponent, Gilman again showed it can play with these kinds of teams, but coach Komanec said the Pirates just need to internally find a little more both physically and mentally to come out with wins.

“I just told the girls this didn’t end the way any of us wanted, but if we look at our capabilities when we’re playing our speed, our game we have some great ball going on,” Komanec said. “But we have to start stronger. We have to start every match stronger, we have to start every set stronger. It goes back to reps and confidence, but more it’s a mental state.”

Game one started disastrously but nearly ended in a great success. The Pirates stumbled out of the gate and found themselves down 14-3. A sideout and a Mann ace restored order and after a run that included a couple of kills from Tallier and a couple aces from Weir, the Pirates surged to a 17-16 lead. Down 21-20, Gilman went on another little spurt and reached game point at 24-22 after Weir’s push tip on a rally that included a couple of nice saves by the Pirates and Weir’s block kill on Falcon Sydney Falteisek. But the Falcons scored the next four to take the set 26-24.

Gilman got a scare when Chaplinski rolled her right ankle on the final play at the net, but after getting it taped up, she returned midway through game two and didn’t miss a beat with Kenlyn Kroeplin ably filling in during the time Chaplinski was out.

Gilman dug itself another hole in game two, falling behind 10-3, but they went on a run with Weir serving to get within 13-10 and grabbed a 17-16 lead on a Tallier ace. A Claire Drier ace, a Weir corner kill off a quick set from Chaplinski and more kills by Chaplinski and Weir keyed a game-ending 6-0 run that gave the Pirates a 25-19 win.

“(Abbotsford) has a fast offense, but it’s that whole idea that solid teams with a fast offense are going to get kills on you,” Komanec said. “You answer back. It’s about answering back. You can’t be affected by that. You have to be ready to answer back, and we can.”

Gilman’s best start in the four sets came in set three when they jumped ahead 7-4. But the Falcons clawed back, took the lead at 10-9 on a Sommer Brodhagen kill and never gave it back. Gilman tied it at 17-17 when Tallier got on a hitting roll, pounding a couple of winners off blockers and also going off-speed for a nice middle tip kill. But Abbotsford went on a 6-1 run after that and went on to win 25-22.

They trailed by two to three points through the early stages of game four before putting together another strong stretch of volleyball. Keepers had a block kill and Tallier served two aces in a 7-2 surge that put Gilman on top 14-12. Weir tooled a blocker and served two aces and Tallier banged a winner off a block to put the Pirates in prime position to send the match to a fifth game at 21-17, but things fell apart in an 8-0 Falcon run that ended the match.

Weir had 17 kills to lead the Pirates, while Tallier had 15. Chaplinski had 28 assists. Weir had four aces and Tallier served up three. Tallier led Gilman with 26 digs. Ellie Drier had 19 and Chaplinski had 14. Keepers had two block kills.

The loss dropped Gilman to 4-4 overall at the time with the losses coming to three of the state’s top five ranked teams in Division 4 –– Athens, Prentice and Mercer. Abbotsford is in Division 3 and improved to 8-5 with the win. Komanec said these matches will get the team ready for a potential post-season run, which is the top goal for the year.

“The attitude and talent on this team is so exciting,” Komanec said. “Great attitudes, these girls are ready to work hard. We’re missing something in the confidence and the swagger, I think, a little bit. We start too slow. We just do. In all six rotations, we have to get stronger. Most teams have a stronger rotation and a weaker one. We want all six to be strong. That’s what we have to look at is our rotation options and where we need to go.”