The Gilmer Lady Cats secured one more win before the region volleyball tournament.
The Cats played their final home match of the regular season last Thursday against region foes Adairsville and Northwest Whitfield. The Cats took care of Adairsville 25-15 and 25-5. After taking down Northwest 25-20 in the first set, the Bruins responded to take the match in the next two, 25-16 and 15-8.
GHS was in Southeast Whitfield Thursday to close out the week, and the Raiders won 25-17 and 25-21.
Head coach Maria Huelsman discussed Tuesday’s matches and hopes the Cats can eliminate crucial errors in the postseason.
“We just took care of business against Adairsville and got a hold of them pretty good. Their defense is pretty good, but they really just didn’t have much offensive power. It was easy for us to handle them,” she said.
“This isn’t taking anything away from the littles (underclassmen), but we’re only going to be as good as their limited errors are going to be. Some of the mental errors that come into play, are difficult to overcome, and we just try to eliminate that.”
Huelsman noted that she has seen progress this season.
“In the past, we’d let teams go on a 10- to 12-point run,” she said. “We’ve knocked that down a little bit to eight, maybe seven, and now down to three-point runs on us. That’s what we have to concentrate on and eliminate those runs. And we eliminate those runs by eliminating negative body language and keeping a high energy level.”
Gilmer ended the regular season with a 13-22 overall record. The Cats posted a 4-8 region record and were seeded fifth entering Monday’s region tournament. Huelsman was excited to see if the Cats can reach their full potential and peak.
“When we stop with these errors, we’re going to see how good we really are,” Huelsman said. “When the team is on, we are a very dangerous team.
“I guarantee you (No. 1 seed) Calhoun and (No. 2) LaFayette are saying, ‘Gilmer’s a scary program.’ If the girls will understand how scary good we can be when clicking on all cylinders, they can do whatever they want to do.”
GHS lost its region tournament first round match to No. 4 Northwest, 3-0.