Panthers win five-game rally against Harlan

The Panthers (9-10) came back from a 5-1 deficit in game five against Harlan (8-18) to top the Hawkeye 10 opponent for only the third time in 17 years.

The 3-2 win Tuesday at home was the Panthers’ second conference victory this season.

“It was amazing,” Creston coach Naomi Sharp said. “The girls were so excited and so was I. They played their hearts out.”

The rollercoaster game found Harlan winning sets one (26-24) and three (25-17) while the Panthers won two (25-22), four (25-15) and five (17-15).

One of the biggest differentiators between the sets they won and the set they lost were scoring runs by the Cyclones.

“We did talk a lot about not letting teams go on big runs. We can go on big runs, but we don’t want our opponents to,” Sharp said. “I felt like the games that we won, that was the case. You don’t want to have to come back from more than two or three down. You have to play pretty near errorless to come back from that.”

In game one, the Panthers allowed a 4-0 run to start the game, several points due to Creston errors.

Junior Hollynn Rieck tipped the ball over to take the ball back and earn their first point.

Serving errors plagued both teams, Creston serving 85% and Harlan at 88%.

“We’ve normally been serving 90% or above. The serve is the only part of the game you get to control,” Sharp said. “We need to be putting those in. Ace serves are great, but they are few and far between. I want us to be a good serving team. That’s been a huge focus for us.”

The Panthers came back to tie game one at 22. It was 24-23 set point for Harlan when Sharp called a time out. Creston came back out and Jaycee Hanson earned a kill to send the game to extra points. The Cyclones took the next two points, winning set one.

The second set was back and fourth from the get-go, both teams playing hard to keep the ball in play.

Creston libero Avery Staver dove to save a ball, sophomore Hope Henderson sending the ball over for a kill, giving the Panthers an early 2-1 lead.

In a game filled with rallies, each team came out on top several times.

Junior hitter Ella Turner earned two points in a row for the Panthers with a solo block followed by a kill.

Rieck tied set two at 20 with a kill, the Panthers taking the next three points to lead 23-20. A bad serve followed by a block out of bounds brought the Cyclones back in the game, but the Panthers were able to find the final two points to take set two. Hanson earned the final point on a kill.

Hanson led the offense with 15 kills. Rieck added 12. Junior setter Kadley Bailey had an impressive 37 assists.

Despite the Panther momentum from winning the previous set, it was the Cyclones who went out strong in the third set, going up 7-1 on the Panthers before Sharp called timeout.

“I called that timeout and said we’ve got to refocus,” Sharp explained. “We need to refresh — one point at a time. We’ve got to rein it in and quit having errors. We’re down by 6, it’s not the end of the world. We can come back.”

The Panthers slowly chipped away at the lead, Henderson and Bailey each pitching in kills. Eventually, the game tied at 9.

The Panthers brought in senior Ady Morrison to serve, her left-handed hits giving the Cyclones defense something new to look at.

“It’s not always the most easy to pass or return the ball,” Sharp said. “It’s just different looks sometimes for passers when it comes off that other hand, and she serves hard.”

Morrison was 14-15 with one ace. Bailey, Hanson and Mila Kuhns each had an ace as well.

Later in the set, the Panthers gave up a 6-point run, giving the Cyclones a 23-15 lead. Bailey scored on a block to stop the run, but Harlan went on to take the set 25-17.

In set four, the Panthers went off, the defense holding the Cyclones to 15 points.

“We’ve been working really hard on our defensive position,” Sharp said. “We’re making ourselves get into position and move based on what the hitter’s arm is doing.”

The Panthers had seven blocks, Henderson and Bailey each with two and Braylee Pokorny, Rieck and Turner each with one.

In the back row, Staver led with 20 digs. Rieck added 17, Hanson with 14 and Kuhns logged 13.

Creston dominated, going up 19-9 on the Cyclones. Pokorny closed out the fourth set with a kill.

“I felt like our hitters were very on that fourth set,” Sharp said. “We were being smart hitters. When it was a set that was a killable set, we were taking care of business. When it wasn’t, we were still putting it in play in a hard to hit area.”

The final set was the culmination of the evenly-matched teams, the set going to extra points.

“It was just pure adrenaline out of us. I knew we had it in us to get it. We just needed to finish,” Sharp said. “I was mentally prepared. I’d love to win in three or four, but I thought this could be a dog fight all the way to the end.”

The Panthers went down 5-1, seemingly a repeat of the third set. But Sharp took a time out. “We’re down by four, we’ve got to focus,” she said. “We just had to stay confident and really what that comes down to for us is knowing when to swing away at the net and when is it the time to be efficient and effective.”

The game tied at 5 on a Rieck kill, but a bad serve gave the ball back to the Cyclones.

With the game tied at 8, 10, 11, 12, 13 and finally 14, the tensions couldn’t have been higher.

Once again, it was a bad serve bringing Creston down, giving the Cyclones a 15-14 lead. The Panthers earned the next two points, making it game point for the Panthers.

The Cylcones tipped the ball into the net, granting the Panthers the win.

“Play wasn’t the best it’s ever been, but it was good in those key moments,” Sharp said. “I’m super happy to take home a win on homecoming week, our last home game and always against Harlan. We got our second Hawkeye 10 win, and I said, ‘yeah, and it won’t be our last.’ We’ve got more in us.”

The Panthers return to action tonight at Red Oak.