Timberwolves take down Panthers on senior night

CORNING — It was a scrappy battle Tuesday in Corning as the Southwest Valley Timberwolves (22-3) defeated the Creston Panthers (9-12) on senior night.

The Timberwolves took the first after a late surge, winning 25-16. The next three sets were much closer, Creston winning the second 25-20 and the Timberwolves following up with 25-21 and 25-20 wins to close out the bout.

“We had girls scrambling after balls to keep them alive,” Southwest Valley coach Lisa Sparks said. “We were also able to transition quickly and get to where we needed to be. The girls competed and played as a unit tonight. They work together on the court. I am proud of the way they are playing.”

The Timberwolves honored nine seniors — Gracelyn Bain, Madeline Bevington, Marley Gray, Sadie Groszkreuger, Katey Lillie, Morgan Shuler, Reagan Sonntag, Delaney True and Natalia Zimmerman.

The seniors were a major factor in the win. Lillie was a powerhouse for the Timberwolves, logging 19 kills, 16 digs and an ace. Gray followed with 16 kills and 21 digs.

From the service line, Bevington and Shuler each had three aces.

“I told the girls we needed to come in focused, ready to play to the whistle,” Creston coach Naomi Sharp said. “They’re going to be scrappy; they’re going to serve hard – all those things were true.”

The first set was tied at 12 when the Timberwolves scored four unanswered, the Panthers’ digs going out of play.

“We were in every game; I just really felt like it came down to so many unforced errors on our part,” Sharp said. “That’s been the story. We have to get rid of unforced errors.”

Creston got the ball back on a serve into the net, but immediately turned it over on a kill from Shuler.

In the back half of the game, the Panthers were outscored 13-4.

In the first set, the Panthers struggled with playing to the whistle, often thinking the play was over before it was.

“We talked about that after game one,” Sharp said. “We cannot be quitting plays. They are digging up everything; they’re sending over balls you don’t think they’ll send over.”

Much of the second set was a roller coaster, the Panthers up 6-3 and then the Timberwolves taking a 12-7 lead.

A bad serve by the Timberwolves brought Kadley Bailey up to serve for the Panthers.

Her first shot over the net was an ace. The Panthers went on to score eight unanswered. Two points were kills by Hollynn Rieck.

“Kadley Bailey went on a huge serving run in game two, brought us out of that hole,” Sharp said. “I feel like that kind of sealed the deal. We took momentum at that point and never really looked back.”

Rieck led the Panther offense at the net with 10 kills. She also had 15 digs and an ace.

Bailey was perfect from the service line and had 27 assists.

The Timberwolves worked to come back in the second set, scoring four consecutive points while the Panthers needed only one to win. Finally a bad serve by Southwest Valley gave the Panthers the set win.

Throughout the night, Braylee Pokorny and Hope Henderson played great defense at the net, each logging two solo blocks and one block assist.

“Hope had a really good night at the net with several blocks,” Sharp said. “She only had one error and four kills, so she totally brought it.”

Libero Avery Staver led back-row defense with 20 digs.

Playing well on both sides, Jaycee Hanson had seven kills and 15 blocks.

Game three got away from the Panthers early, the Timberwolves taking a 6-5 lead and not losing it after that point.

The final game was back-and-forth, tied at 17 before Southwest Valley scored seven unanswered to get to match point. Creston scored three in a row, but couldn’t dig out of the deficit.

“Sets three and four we we were able to get the ball to our hot hands for the night and play some great defense,” Sparks said.

The Panthers return to action Thursday at St. Albert in conference play.

The Timberwolves have the Pride of Iowa conference tournament Tuesday at Lenox.