Titans dash Panthers’ dream

COUNCIL BLUFFS — On Tuesday night in Atlantic, when the Class 4A Region 3 state tournament berth is being decided, Creston’s best team in nearly three decades will be on the outside looking in.

Lewis Central (22-14) takes on No. 15 ADM (22-13) in the regional final after both teams swept their semifinal matches Thursday night.

ADM defeated Norwalk while Lewis Central sailed to a 25-16, 25-20, 25-20 victory over a Creston team they defeated 3-1 during the regular season at Atlantic.

Lewis Central is looking for a trip to state for the first time since 2003. Creston has not participated at state since 1987, when coach Polly Luther was the setter for her father, Eldon Gammell.

After a spectacular performance Monday at home against 14th-ranked Glenwood in a 3-1 victory, the Panthers never really found that spark against the hard-hitting Titans Thursday.

It was a big day for LC senior Abby Bergsten, who had a match-high 19 kills. Earlier in the day she verbally committed to play volleyball at the nation’s No. 1-ranked junior college, Iowa Western.

Another powerful senior, Reghan Coyle, finished with 14 kills. Emily Albertson added six and freshman Kathrine Poore was one of two players with five as the Titans finished with 50 kills in three sets and only 10 attack errors.

In contrast, Creston amassed only 29 kills — 14 by all-conference senior Natalie Mostek.

“Against Glenwood we had everybody hitting the ball and tonight it was hit and miss,” said Creston coach Polly Luther. “We had a lot of hitting errors. They have powerful hitters and we have to have touches on the block against a team like that. When we’re not playing up to our potential, it’s hard to get anything going against a good team.”

LC coach Dennis South, who guided the Titans to that 2003 state tourney in his third year on the job, brought his team to Creston Monday to watch the quarterfinal match. He was pleased in how the girls executed the resulting strategy.

“We looked at their defense, both on film and Monday night, and we decided where we felt their weaknesses were,” South said. “Deep, corner and sideline openings. You saw our girls hit some balls to the ground that weren’t even touched. We lost to Glenwood late in the season when we had 42 hitting errors. Tonight we only had 10. We hit .345 as a team, one of our best hitting nights.”

South attributed the sharp hitting to the team’s crisp passing, which worked efficiently off Creston’s service.

“They are high percentage servers,” South said, “but they’re not very aggressive. I can’t say enough about how well our passers played tonight. And our freshman hitter (Poore) came in and had 22 swings and one error. That’s stepping up and doing the job you’re supposed to do.”

Early deficit

Lewis Central set the tone early in the night with a 6-0 lead in set one. The 25-16 win ended with four service aces and six kills by Bergsten and four by Coyle. Mostek opened with four for Creston.

LC zoomed out in front in the second set, 21-12. Creston then came to life, winning the point on a long rally with a big Mostek kill to draw within 21-19.

LC got late kills to take the set, 25-20, as Bergsten and Coyle had already reached double figures in kills (12 and 10, respectively) after two sets.

Mostek served an ace to put the Panthers up 15-14 in the third set. After LC went ahead 22-17, the Panthers responded again as Sydney Dunphy smacked a crosscourt kill and Jami Sickels served an ace.

But Bergsten dominated the final stretch with three thundering shots to deep corners to finish the 25-20 win.

“We finally got rolling a bit in game three when they had 22 on the board,” Luther said, “but against a team with their firepower, you have to come out alive from the very start.”

South said his team’s defense effectively neutralized much of Creston’s attack.

“We knew their outside hitters number 20 (Marie Hood) and 21 (Dunphy) really liked to hit the line,” South said. “So, our goal was to get them early and force them back to the middle, and that’s exactly what happened when we blocked the first three they tried. Then, number 9 (Mostek) can hit it anywhere, but we just wanted to get in front of her on defense. We had people in position.”

Coach Luther loses seven seniors — Brenna Baker, Nicole Haley, Hanna Luther, Ashley Harris, Haylee LaMasters, Hood and Mostek — whose careers including becoming the first .500 team since the 1990s, and this year’s 20-8 season that included a third-place tie with Lewis Central in the Hawkeye 10 at 6-4, behind Harlan and Red Oak.

"It was kind of a fairy tale season for us," Luther said. "To put together that kind of record, and finish third in the Hawkeye 10 with the competition that we had. I told the girls early on, if you build it, they will come, and one night we came out to a full gym after warmups and I told them, 'you built it.' As a coach you could not ask for a better group of young women as role models for the younger kids. These kids were amazing people, for them to excel as they did is pretty awesome."

Creston statistics

Serving (aces) — Hanna Luther 10-10 (2), Jami Sickels 10-10 (1), Natalie Mostek 8-9 (1), Alyssa Higgins 8-8, Sydney Dunphy 9-10, Haylee LaMasters 5-5, Baker 2-2.

Attacks (kills) — Mostek 14, Marie Hood 5, Dunphy 5, Jenna Taylor 3, Angela Sorensen 2.

Blocks (solo-assists) — Mostek 1, Sorensen 1.

Setting (assists) — Luther 29.

Digs — Mostek 8, LaMasters 7, Alli Thomsen 6, Sickels 5, Luther 5, Higgins 2, Dunphy 2, Baker 1.

Serve receive — Mostek 10-11, Thomsen 4-4, Higgins 5-7, Sickels 2-5, Taylor 2-5, Hood 2-4, Baker 1-1.

Lewis Central statistics

Serving (aces) — Kaci Hohenthane 20-23 (3), Natalie Patten 15-15 (1), Abby Bergsten 7-9 (2), Reghan Coyle 7-10 (1), Mady Hamblin 8-10.

Attacks (kills) — Bergsten 37-40 (19), Coyle 21-25 (14), Kathrine Poore 21-22 (5), Kassie Larsen 12-14 (5), Emily Albertson 11-11 (6).

Blocks (solo-assists) — Larsen 0-1.

Setting (assists) — Hohenthane 39, Coyle 3.

Digs — Hamblin 10, Hohenthane 10, Patten 10, Coyle 8.