GILMAN VOLLEYBALL - O-W outlasts Gilman in fiveset ECC match
Two matches into Eastern Cloverbelt Conference play, the Gilman Pirates have gone the distance in both of them. A win in the second one Tuesday, eluded them by the slimmest of margins.
At Owen-Withee, the Pirates won sets one and three, but lost sets two and four by decisive margins to send Tuesday’s match to the fifth set. One point away from defeat at 14-10, the Pirates got a successful roll shot from Allison Olynick a point on a Blackhawk error and winning shot from Aubrey Mann to pull within 14-13.
The tie seemed certain on the next point when Mann took a set from Brynn Komanec and sent a tip to a hole in the middle of Owen-Withee’s defense. But, Blackhawk senior Kayla Rasmussen dove and got under the ball just enough to keep it alive and, a few seconds later, the ball came to her for a kill from the left side that clinched Owen-Withee’s 15-13 win in the set and 3-2 win in the match.
The Pirates never led in the fifth set, tying it three times at 2-2, 3-3 and 6-6. They were left wondering where one more tie might have taken them.
“We were right there to take the win, but some big plays by Owen Withee in the last points kept us from pushing ahead,” Gilman head coach Janice Komanec said. “They are scrappy and they hustle and they have good ball placement and they just outlasted us.”
Gilman slid to 1-1 in conference matches and 6-10 overall, while Owen-Withee bumped up to 1-1. The Blackhawks are 8-6 overall. This was the team’s second meeting of the season. Owen-Withee also won the first one 2-1 at Thorp on Aug. 28.
The sets the Pirates won were close and featured several long back-and-forth volleys. In the opener, Kylee Copenhaver served Gilman out to an 9-2 lead with Allison Olynick notching three straight kills at one point in the run. Owen-Withee didn’t take long to claw back and tie it at 15-15 and then take a 17-16 lead. Copenhaver’s back-to-back kills and an Averie Olynick ace nudged Gilman ahead 19-17. Weir perfectly tooled an Owen-Withee blocker with a tip at 21-19. Brynn Komanec and Copenhaver both had diving saves on a point that ended with Gilman taking a 23-19 lead. Komanec’s push and Addy Vick’s block capped the 25-20 Pirates win.
In set three, Gilman trailed 12-6 after a Rasmussen kill. The Pirates slowly but steadily crept closer and they tied it at 1919 following two Norah Noonan winners with Kennedy Buske serving. Reece Weir’s kill gave them the lead at 22-21 and two Shae Drier aces finished off the set at 2522.
Sets two and four weren’t nearly as close, however. Owen-Withee shot out to a 13-3 lead in the second one and was never challenged in a 25-7 win. The Blackhawks went up 10-1 right off the bat in set four. Gilman got within 11-5 and then collapsed again as the Blackhawks won it 25-11.
“We need to focus on consistency from set to set,” Janice Komanec said. “We definitely let down in sets two and four and winning either of those would’ve saved us from heading to that fifth and deciding set.”
Gilman returns to the court tonight, Thursday, hosting Neillsville. The Pirates are back at home Tuesday to face Loyal before they head to Greenwood for another conference match on Oct. 2. All of these conference varsity matches start at 7:15 p.m.
