Panthers win marathon match

It couldn’t have been any closer.

Creston’s volleyball team took a 2-0 match lead on visiting St. Albert Thursday by prevailing in two closely-contested sets, 26-24 and 25-23.

The Saintes, who came in with a 5-2 Hawkeye Ten Conference mark and 14-13 overall, pulled even at 2-2 by taking sets three and four, 25-22 and 25-20.

So, after nearly two hours of battling back and forth in the Creston High School gym on Creston’s Pink Out night for breast cancer awareness, it all came down to a sprint to 15 points for the match. St. Albert moved ahead early, 4-1.

The Panthers battled back to 4-4 on a pair of service points by Hope Henderson, aided by a smash to the floor by kills leader Jaycee Hanson, who finished the night with a team-high 21 terminations.

The only lead by as many as three points after that was Creston taking a 14-11 edge, but the final point proved elusive as the Saintes climbed back into ties of 14-14 and 15-15. (A two-point victory margin is needed to win the set.)

Winning point

Creston got the serve back at 16-15, and on Henderson’s serve, senior Braylee Pokorny tipped quickly to an opening in the St. Albert court to secure the 17-15 win, setting off a celebration with the nearby student section.

“It was a hard tip,” Pokorny explained. “I had put it there four times and they could not seem to get to it. We kept our composure and we all stayed together.”

Coach Naomi Sharp said the strong finishes in each of the sets showed the improvement the team has made in being more efficient.

“Braylee got most of her kills on those tips to the setter defense that was open for her tonight,” Sharp said. “Braylee had her best game of the year tonight. She’s getting so much more confidence in herself. As a team our mental game has come so far in the last year. We were coming from behind in every set tonight.”

The win pushed Creston to 10-9 for the season and 5-4 in Hawkeye Ten play. It’s the first time Creston has been above .500 this late in the season since the 2015 team went 15-11, one year after the 21-7 season by the 20-14 squad. Both were coached by Polly Luther.

Setter Kadley Bailey, who had 52 assists while also contributing 11 kills and 14 digs, said the team has improved its serving and hitting efficiency since early in the season. Libero Avery Staver served consecutive aces to give Creston a 12-10 lead in the final set.

“We’ve really cleaned up our serving game. We have less and less serving errors,” Bailey said. “We’ve also been working on our hitting efficiency in practice. If it’s not the perfect set, find the tips, the roll shots and the deep corners.”

Pokorny, who was effective off Bailey’s quick sets Thursday, said communication is the key in the setter-hitter relationship on the court. She had 14 kills in the match.

“I love the quick sets and Kadley knows where to put it,” Pokorny said. “We talk in huddles about where we want the ball, and where to hit it.”

St. Albert had a taller team at the net and a pair of hitting forces in 5-10 junior Brooklynn Rutledge and 5-9 junior Naomi Sherrill. Both had 25 kills.

Serving success

The Panther back row was digging several shots throughout the night, led by Staver with 22 digs, 19 by Hollynn Rieck and 16 by Nora Barton, a junior who worked her way into the lineup with her serving prowess. Barton served four aces Thursday with one error, and Bailey served seven aces with one error.

“Tonight was probably the best that we’ve served by far, especially in the number of aces we got,” Sharp said. “We switched our defense two or three times to keep number 10 (Rutledge) from taking advantage of it. She’s a beast. We talked about taking advantage of when she’s in the back row, that we needed to get points and keep the serve on our side. I was proud of them.”

Senior Ella Turner was also active in the front with some timely returns to openings in the Saintes’ court with seven kills. She also had three blocks and six digs. Creston’s blocking and hitting game has improved. Pokorny said she and Hope Henderson have pushed each other as middle blockers.

“Me and Hope practice with each other and work on how to fix things, so we’re both improving at the same time,” Pokorny said.

The Panthers have three wins in their past four matches.

Creston concludes the conference schedule at home Thursday against Glenwood (19-15, 4-5) conference, which dropped a five-set match to St. Albert last Tuesday. The Panthers will also open Class 3A regional play at home Oct. 21 against Centerville (15-10), with the winner facing Clarinda or Chariton at Clarinda.

Creston 3, St. Albert 2

Serving (aces) — Creston: Kadley Bailey 30-31 (7), Nora Barton 17-18 (4), Avery Staver 10-11 (2), Hollynn Rieck 15-15, Hope Henderson 20-21, Jaycee Hanson 11-13. SA: Grace Christensen 25-28 (4), Molly Wise 20-21 (1), Alyssa Shepard 14-15 (1), Lili Denton 21-21.

Attacks (kills) — Creston: Hanson 49-59 (21), Braylee Pokorny 23-30 (14), Ella Turner 21-26 (7), Rieck 16-24 (5), Hope Henderson 10-14 (4). SA: Brooklyn Rutledge 38-48 (25), Naomi Sherrill 68-75 (25), Sophia Denton 31-33 (8).

Blocks — Creston: Pokorny 4, Henderson 3, Turner 3, Bailey 2. SA: Lenz 5, Denton 3.

Setting (assists) — Creston: Bailey 52, Rieck 3. SA: Molly Wise 53, Christensen 3.

Digs — Creston: Staver 22, Rieck 19, Barton 16, Bailey 14, Hanson 13, Henderson 7, Turner 6. SA: Christensen 27, Shepard 17, Wise 15, Sherrill 11.