The Gresham Community High School volleyball team got off to a fast start in its WIAA Division 4 regional semifinal match against Gillett on Thursday, but could not hang on, losing 3-1 to end its season.
Gresham, the No. 3 seed, was solid in a first-game victory over No. 2 Gillett. The Wildcats pulled ahead 18-8 on a 8-1 run with Brianna Stehberger serving, before going on to win 25-14. Stehberger ended up with eight kills.
“We really passed the ball well in the first game,” Gresham coach Tim Wild said. “We set up the offense. We had a lot of momentum and our girls really worked well together.”
The second game was back and forth with a 9-1 Tigers run followed by a 8-1 Wildcats run to cut the Gillett lead to 15-14. Eventually Gillett led 24-19, and a hit by River Otradovec in the net on game point gave the Tigers the 25-19 win.
The third game appeared to be a replay of the second, until Gillett’s hitters started to heat up. Led by senior middle hitter Brianna Lemirande, who finished with 16 kills on the night, Gillett went from a lead of 13-12 to 24-14 game point in short order. With Lemirande serving, Gillett got the game point.
Gillett coach Dawn Nelson said her team needed a few games to get going.
“We have a very young team this year,” Nelson said. “The whole aspect of being in tournaments, I think it was a lot of nerves going on out there. After we adjusted, it was just another game and things started to go differently for us.”
The Tigers extended their hot streak into the fourth game, starting out on a 9-0 run with senior outside hitter Lisa Schmidt serving. She finished with nine aces and seven digs for Gillett. Gresham battled back to pull within 23-17, but the rally came too late as Gillett went on to win 25-18.
“We couldn’t get a streak going,” Wild said. “We slowed down a little bit. And, you know, (Gillett) hit the ball well. We had a hard time slowing down their middle attack, which caused us problems.”
Gresham was led by senior outside hitter Brittny Andrews, who had 10 kills. Setter Nande Carroll had 18 assists.
Gillett setter Jessica Anderson had 29 assists, four digs and three kills.
Wild said he was proud of the way the girls played toward the end of the season and in Thursday’s regional match.
“We had a three-game winning streak heading into here,” Wild said. “Our girls definitely fought until the very end. We were down 9-0 right off the bat and we kept playing right until the very end.”
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