Gilman gets back on track with two conference volleyball sweeps

GILMAN VOLLEYBALL

Gilman’s serving came up aces Tuesday night, especially in the second game of the Pirates’ 3-0 sweep of Greenwood as the Pirates held their Dig Pink Night for Cancer Awareness.

The Pirates got some fight from the Indians, who are at the bottom of the Eastern Cloverbelt Conference standings, but they created late distance in two of the set wins while improving to 4-2 in league play, good for a third-place with Loyal heading into the last matches of the conference season tonight, Thursday.

Gilman served up 20 aces in the win, including 11 from senior Gracie Tallier. Her ace binge midway through the second game sparked Gilman’s runaway 25-8 win in that set.

Tallier wasn’t alone. That set was tight at 9-6 when Tatum Weir got a tip kill and then took her turn serving and fired off three aces to push the lead to 13-6. Abby Chaplinski had an ace and then after a big swing gave Tallier a kill, she rattled off five aces in a 9-0 run that closed out the set.

Game one was tight at 13-10 when Gilman went on a little spurt to go up 19-11. That run included a deep ace by Tallier and one of her team-high 12 kills for the night.

Greenwood clawed within 20-16 before Gilman finally put the Indians away at 25-19 with help from a Tallier ace to the corner, a dump from Chaplinski that found a hole in the defense and a Kenlyn Kroeplin ace.

Game three was even tighter at 17-17 and 19-18 before the Pirates went on a 6-3 run to end it at 25-21. Tallier again came up big with a couple of kills and Chaplinski had an ace. With the score 22-18, Claire Drier’s attack was dug up by Greenwood, but the ball went right to Tallier for an easy putaway. Chaplinski’s push to the corner gave Gilman the clinching point.

Along with leading the team in aces and kills, Tallier also had 13 digs. Weir had eight kills, three aces and two blocks. Bryn Hendricks had five kills, while Tshiya Keepers and Claire Drier had three each. Kroeplin and Chaplinski had two aces each. Chaplinski also had 27 assists. Keepers and Claire Drier had two blocks apiece. Chaplinski had eight digs, Ellie Drier had six and Kayleigh James had five.

The Pirates get a tough one to wrap up conference play. Columbus Catholic is in town tonight, looking to wrap up an undisputed conference championship. The Dons already have clinched a share of their sixth straight league title.

Second-place Neillsville (5-1) hosts Loyal, while Colby (3-3) is also looking to move up in the final standings. The Hornets are at 1-5 Spencer.

The Cloverbelt Conference Crossovers will be held Tuesday with the Eastern teams hosting. Varsity matches start at 7:15 p.m.

The Pirates also will host their nine-team invitational on Saturday. Play starts at 9 a.m. with three, threeteam pools determining who plays in the afternoon placement pools.

Gilman 3, Loyal 0

The Pirates got a key head-to-head win at Loyal Thursday, sweeping the Greyhounds 3-0.

After a slow start, the Pirates really picked up steam in the second set and rolled from there to pick up the win.

Gilman won the three sets 25-23, 25-6 and 25-16.

Tallier was Gilman’s kill leader with 13, while Weir wasn’t far behind with 10. Claire Drier, Keepers and Danielle Mann had three each.

Tallier had three aces, while Weir, Mann and Chaplinski had two apiece. Chaplinski had 29 assists.

Ellie Drier had a team-high 10 digs and two assists. Tallier had nine digs with Chaplinski adding seven. James had five and Mann had four.

Weir led Gilman with two blocks.

Tatum Weir