Bowler falls to Gillett in playoff opener

The Bowler High School volleyball team was hoping the start of the postseason would be the fresh start the team needed after an up-and-down regular season.

The fourth-seeded Panthers had home court advantage as they welcomed fifth-seeded Gillett to town on Tuesday for a Division 4 regional playoff opener, but it was the visiting Tigers that grabbed the advantage early and never let up.

Gillett used several long spurts of strong serving to overwhelm Bowler and earn a 25-15, 25-16, 25-7 win to advance to the regional semifinals against top-seeded Tigerton.

“They just wanted it more,” said Bowler coach Brad Brei after the match. “They were firing on all cylinders from the start.”

“They had a lot of top-spin on their serves and they are a very well-rounded team — they play as a team, not as individuals,” said Bowler senior Jada Waters.

The loss marked the final high school volleyball match for Waters and Jodi Wolf.

While their final season on the court didn’t go as well as they would have hoped, that didn’t stop the duo from enjoying their time on the court with their teammates.

“What I’m going to miss the most is the friends I made in the sport,” Waters said, “but I’ll have these memories with me throughout the rest of my life.”

Gillett opened the match by claiming the first six points after a trio of aces. Bowler was able to hang around and eventually cut its deficit down to two but the Tigers won the next five points to regain the momentum.

The Panthers took the next three points, but the team couldn’t sustain the rally. Gillett finished off the set by taking eight of the last 10 points.

Bowler managed just three attack kills in the first set, two of which came off the swings of junior Ireland DeRoos, who also had a block kill during the set.

After talking things over with coach Brei, the Panthers came out with more energy in the second set. The hosts split the first 14 points with the visitors before Gillett eased out to a three-point lead.

After the Tigers upped their lead to five, the Panthers rallied behind aces from Wolf and some errors from the visitors.

A Gillett timeout halted the momentum and behind some strong serving, the Tigers pulled away before an attack kill capped the set. The Panthers had just two attack kills in the set while committing 22 combined errors.

Up two sets, the Tigers took five of the first seven points of the third set before the Panthers clawed their way back. Bowler pulled within two before a Gillett kill made it 10-7.

Gillett sophomore Karissa Schaal handled the rest for the Tigers with her serving. Schaal totaled eight aces while leading her team on a 16-0 run.

Whenever Bowler seemed to be in a good position to end the rally, a well-placed tip or attack kept the visitors on the serve.

“A couple points, some missed serves and all of a sudden everybody has their head down,” coach Brei said. “We could not fight through it — it’s been a struggle the whole season like that.”

DeRoos posted half of Bowler’s six attack kills on the night. Waters tallied three of the team’s six assists while Wolf and junior Brooke Theix each totaled six digs.

“We had a lot of ups and downs — more downs than ups — but altogether I think we had a lot of fun,” Waters said. “At the end of the day, it means the most that we were together as a team.”