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CORNING — Crston volleyball fell short, dropping a 3-1 contest against Southwest Valley Monday night at the Timberwolves’ Activity Center.
The loss is Creston’s first against Southwest Valley in the series, which dates back to September 2013.
“Tonight we couldn’t get past the threshold,” Creston head coach Teresa Arkfeld said. “Our teamwork wasn’t there, our hits were out and we weren’t serving like we should have.”
21 kills by the Timberwolves (2-1. 0-0 Pride of Iowa), including seven by outside hitter Charlee Larsen, six by Tierney Dalton, and five by Katey Lillie kept Creston (0-4) at bay.
Southwest Valley was also dominant in serving, with an efficiency of 90.1%.
“Our serving was very strong and had a huge impact in our win tonight,” Southwest Valley head coach Lisa Sparks said. “Maggie Haer served up seven aces while the team had 17 as a whole. Serving that aggressively and still maintaining a 90% team serving efficiency is something the girls should be proud of.”
The standout Panthers were senior Keely Coen and freshman Kadley Bailey.
Coen, Creston’s libero, finished with 10 digs, four assists and one kill.
“She really did a great job tonight,” Arkfeld said. “I gave her the task of going for every ball and she did just that tonight.”
Bailey finished her night with eight assists, four digs and one kill.
“Our freshman setter she had like the most aces tonight,” Arkfeld said.
Creston led 8-7 early in the first set. The Panthers saw their lead evaporate and watched the Timberwolves go on a 5-0 run before calling a timeout down 12-8. They were unable to regroup following the timeout as Southwest Valley went on a 13-8 run which won the opening set 25-16.
The Panthers responded with a win in the second set but fell behind 8-1 early. Creston went on an 18-4 run and dissolved a Southwest Valley timeout while up 15-13. The Timberwolves called their other timeout while trailing 22-17. Creston won the second set 25-20.
The third set was all Timberwolves as they jumped out to a 5-0 lead. After calling a timeout trailing 9-3, the Panthers went on a 5-2 run to bring the set score to 11-8. Ultimately, the Timberwolves went on the attack and went on a 14-3 run to end the third set with a 25-11 win.
Creston led 9-7 in the fourth set when the Timberwolves called their timeout to regroup. Creston tallied a point to g up 10-7, but Southwest Valley responded with a 9-0 run. The Panthers tallied two more points which made the score 16-12, Timberwolves, but Southwest Valley went on a an 8-3 run to win the fourth set 25-15 and the match three sets to one.
The Panthers are back in action tonight in Carroll where they’re set to battle preseason No. 9 Kuemper Catholic. Southwest Valley hosts Central Decatur tonight.