Pirates take care of Vikings this time, head to Clayton Thursday

WIAA DIV. 4: GILMAN 3, FREDERIC 0

It was the same matchup, but a much different and better result for the Gilman Pirates, who made amends for a rough first-round exit in 2021 by sweeping Frederic 3-0 in Tuesday’s WIAA Division 4 volleyball regional quarterfinal.

Exactly a year after Frederic’s firstround sweep, the teams met again as 10th and seventh seeds at Gilman High School. This time, the favored Pirates had little trouble with the Vikings, controlling each set and never really facing any stretches of adversity.

The win continued Gilman’s strong October play and sent them riding a confident wave of momentum into secondseeded Clayton tonight, Thursday, for a regional semifinal matchup with the 23-8 Bears, who were co-champions of the Central Lakeland Conference this fall along with Turtle Lake.

Clayton easily swept 15th-seeded Lake Holcombe in its tournament opener on Tuesday.

The Pirates clicked in all areas Tuesday from digging to passing and serving to hitting. Gracie Tallier and Tatum Weir led the way as usual from their left and middle positions, but Claire Drier had one of her better matches of the season as well from the right side, while Danielle Mann, Bryn Hendricks and Tshiya Keepers also made plays while filling their rotational roles. Setter Abby Chaplinski finished with 29 assists and 15 digs and Ellie Drier had 12 digs and an ace from the libero position.

The Pirates took game one 25-11 with Claire Drier getting off to a quick start with two early kills and aces from Kenlyn Kroeplin and Mann contributing to a 9-5 lead. Blocks from Weir and Keepers, a win from Tallier in a joust at the net and a Weir ace helped open up at 14-6 lead. Claire Drier, Tallier, Weir and Mann added kills late in the set and Kroeplin had another ace to help put it away.

The second set was the only tight one. A couple of Mann aces helped Gilman get up 9-6 and the lead hit 16-9 before the Vikings got on a 5-0 run to pull within 1614. The Pirates, though, got a sideout and then Mann blocked an off-speed hit and Ellie Drier served an ace to put them back up by five at 19-14. Kroeplin again got off a couple of hard-to-handle serves, resulting in an ace and a free-ball kill from Weir off a bad serve receive by Frederic to put Gilman up 22-15. Weir’s block and kills by Mann and Tallier closed out the 25-16 win.

Tallier served two aces in a 7-0 start to game three, which was never close. The Pirates shot ahead 15-4. Keepers and Tallier tooled shots off blockers and Claire Drier got a kill for a 20-9 lead. Chaplinski’s dump push, a corner kill from Hendricks and Claire Drier’s sixth and final kill finished off the 25-12 clincher.

Tallier led the Pirates with 11 kills and Weir added eight. Mann chipped in with five and Keepers had three.

Mann and Kroeplin served three aces apiece, while Tallier had two. Weir led Gilman with four blocks with Chaplinski adding three and Mann getting two. Tallier had 10 digs, Kroeplin had six and Weir came up with five.

The winner of tonight’s semifinal will advance to the regional final match set for Saturday at 7 p.m. It will be against either sixth-seeded Turtle Lake or thirdseeded Thorp with the higher seed hosting. Gilman (14-12) owns a 2-0 win over Thorp, which came on opening night in the Thorp triangular back on Aug. 25. Thorp swept 14th-seeded Owen-Withee Tuesday, while Turtle Lake was a 3-1 winner over 11th-seeded Clear Lake. The Cardinals finished fourth this fall in the Western Cloverbelt Conference.

The sectional semifinal is set for Oct. 27, followed by the final at Clear Lake on Oct. 29.