No. 10 Tigers pound out 3-0 victory

Creston held leads of 2-0 and 3-2 in the opening set and then never led again as Red Oak swept the Panthers on senior night Monday, 25-14, 25-15, 25-9.

Senior outside hitter Sierra Athen had 11 kills, nine digs and two serving aces as the Class 3A 10th-ranked Tigers improved to 20-13 overall and 7-3 in Hawkeye 10 play.

The formidable Tiger net attack also included nine kills by sophomore Chloe Johnson and six kills by sophomore Sophie Walker. Libero Sydney Streicher had 17 digs and setters Ellie Rengstrof and Hannah Vial in the Tigers’ 6-2 offense finished with 13 and 11 assists, respectively.

It was too much power and blocking resistance for the Panthers, who suffered through an error-prone night in their final home appearance of 2017.

Cayla Maitlen, one of three seniors honored before the match, had five kills for the Panthers. Breanna Wallace, another senior, and junior Megan Haley each had four. The third senior, Taylor Fredrickson, contributed an attack and a block in the final set.

There just wasn’t enough offense generated to match the relentless Tiger attack.

“They did serve aggressively, but we work on serve receive in practice every day and we did not serve receive well tonight,” said Creston co-coach Mallory Peterson. “We passed poorly. Credit them, they were digging up everything and getting a hand on everything when we did hit it. There wasn’t much hitting the floor on their side.”

After Creston’s early lead in the opening set, the Tigers rode the powerful attacks of Athen and Johnson to post the 25-14 win.

Creston co-coach Naomi Sharp noted the strong start by the Panthers in set two, trailing just 7-6 after a kill by Taylor Buxton. But, from that point, Red Oak outscored the Panthers 18-9 for the 25-15 win. The Tigers controlled the entire third set in rolling 25-9.

“It was back and forth for awhile there,” Sharp said. “We had too many errors to keep it like that consistently. We have to be confident passers. Even when we made the pass tonight, we looked unsure a lot.”

Peterson said the Panthers weren’t improvising when thrown out of rhythm by Red Oak’s precises serving or hitting attack that knocked the Panther defense on its heels.

“We got stuck sending them free balls, which is just giving them points,” Peterson said. “We talk about playing out of system all the time. Find a hitter. Put yourself in position to attack. We just weren’t sharp with that tonight, and we have one day to get it straightened out.”

UP NEXT — Creston, 10-14 overall, finished 3-7 for ninth place in the Hawkeye 10. The Panthers open Class 3A regional play at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Shenandoah. The Fillies fell to 20-10 and a final league mark of 4-6 in a 25-12, 25-18, 25-15 loss to Lewis Central Monday night.

A pair of 5-10 junior hitters led the Fillies as Kealey Anderson had 11 kills in the loss and Logan Hughes finished with six kills and nine digs.

Red Oak, meanwhile, hosts Clarke in Wednesday’s Region 3 opener and the winner meets Shenandoah or Creston Oct. 24 at Red Oak.

In other league action Monday, Carroll Kuemper Catholic defeated Glenwood 25-15, 25-13, 25-16.

Creston statistics

Serving (aces) — MaKenna Hudson 9-9, Breanna Wallace 7-9, Megan Haley 5-6, Breanna Ross 5-5 (1), Taylor Buxton 4-4, Cayla Maitlen 3-4.

Attacks (kills) — Maitlen 20-24 (5), Haley 9-10 (4), Wallace 11-14 (4), Kelsey Fields 6-9 (2), Sam Dunphy 5-7 (2), Buxton 8-9 (1), Hudson 3-3 (1), Ross 1-1, Taylor Fredrickson 1-1.

Blocks — Fredrickson 1, Wallace 1.

Setting (assists) — Ross 15, Buxton 2, Fields 1, Fredrickson 1.

Digs — Maitlen 10, Buxton 9, Ross 6, Hudson 5, Wallace 3, Haley 3, Dunphy 1.

Junior varsity

Red Oak won Monday’s JV match over Creston, 25-20, 25-19.

Saige Rice served 7 of 7 with an ace, was 6 of 11 hitting with three kills, put up eight setting assists and contributed four digs for the Panthers. Rylie Driskell had a team-high nine setting assists with six digs, a solo block and 6-6 serving.

Emma Hanson finished with two blocks, one kill and served 3-4. Abbi Hood served 10-11 and had four kills. Dunphy and Fields each had four kills and Dunphy added three digs. Karly Calvin had two digs and served 2-2. Peyton Rice and Lexi Rounds each had a dig and Rice served 1-1.

“We started out well in the first set, up most of the way,” said Peterson said. “We got stuck at 17 and let them go on a nine-point run and never bounced back. In that set we had too many errors when we needed the ball in play. After that we didn’t regain our rhythm.”

Freshmen

Creston took a close third set, 26-24, after dropping the opening two sets 25-17 and 25-14 against the Red Oak freshmen Monday.

Serving leaders for Creston were Ryli Abildtrup 10-12, Chloe Marlin 9-9, Molly Sickels 9-11, Maddie Frey 8-9, Kaci Abildtrup 8-9 and Haylee Shields 6-8. Kaci Abildtrup hit four kills.

Coach Mike McCabe said despite the loss, it was a positive end to the 2017 season.

“The kids competed very hard and I was proud of them,” McCabe said. “They play eight kids, we play eight kids, and I was happy to see us get a set from them. The kids showed much improvement over the season. I enjoyed working with them.