Home crowd cheers Panthers to conference victory

In a rowdy gym Thursday evening, the Creston volleyball team (7-8) defeated Denison-Schleswig (7-7) 3-1, earning their first Hawkeye 10 win since 2022.

“The girls did a great job tonight,” Creston coach Naomi Sharp said. “We have made a couple adjustments to our lineup and I think it is working.”

With Hollynn Rieck moving from a setter to a hitter, senior Kadley Bailey handled the setting. Jaycee Hanson led the offense with nine kills on 27 attacks. Rieck added seven on 23. Braylee Pokorny added six on only 10 attacks.

The Panthers won the first two sets 25-19, maintaining control thoughout. In set three, things started to fall apart for the Creston team.

Rieck scored the first point of the set on a kill, but the Monarchs played aggressive, keeping the Panthers playing catch up.

After the game was tied at 4, Denison pulled away with three consecutive scores.

Pokorny blocked an attack to give the Panthers a point, but the Monarchs went on another run, scoring five unanswered.

In all points scored between 5-7 and 8-18, the Panthers’ three points came only from errors on the Monarchs.

The Monarchs went on to win the set 25-15.

“We let up a little in game three and started playing sloppy,” Sharp said. “I was so happy they could clean it up and come back to get game four. That shows adversity. They battled back and started playing our game.”

Though the Panthers crowd had been loud all night, game four had both sides filling the gym with cheers.

It started as game three had been going -— the Monarchs putting up two unanswered. Creston earned their first point on a chaotic tip from Hope Henderson as the Panthers fought to keep the ball from the ground.

Henderson and Pokorny led defense at the net with four solo blocks each. Rieck, Hanson and libero Avery Staver each had 14 digs.

The points weren’t all pretty, one score coming off Rieck diving at the bleachers for the first hit, Hanson hitting from the bench for the second and Bailey hitting over the back to earn the point.

Creston went down 11-7, but began to claw their way back, tying the game at 12.

The Panthers finally began to pull away, going on a 8-1 run to earn a 22-15 lead. The student section was fired up as the game came to a close.

“Huge shout out to our student section for cheering us on,” Sharp said. “They were amazing.”

With only one point left for the Panthers to seal the win, the longest volley of the night ensued.

Though the Monarchs came out with the point on the volley, both teams went all out in pursuit of the score. Creston finally earned a 25-20 win to take the Hawkeye 10 victory.

With one conference win under their belt, the Panthers are ahead of both Denison-Schleswig and St. Albert who have yet to find an H10 victory.

Saturday, the Panthers played in a Red Oak tournement, falling to Fremont-Mills and Glenwood.

The Panthers return to action Thursday at home against Clarinda (13-3) for senior night.