Trojanns hold off upset bid, 3-1
By LARRY PETERSON
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lpeterson@crestonnews.com
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ATLANTIC — A senior-laden Creston volleyball team didn’t want to go down easy in Class 3A regional semifinal action here Thursday against Hawkeye 10 champion Atlantic.
Having lost 3-0 to the Trojanns at home to finish the conference season on Oct. 20, the upset-minded Panthers found themselves on the doorstep of taking a 2-1 match lead Thursday on the Atlantic court.
Creston had dominated a 25-12 game to even the match 1-1, and moved to a 21-19 lead in game three. Four more points and the Trojanns would be in a 2-1 hole in front of the largest Atlantic crowd in coach Lori Lammers’ four years as coach.
But at that point, the Trojanns seized control and won the set, 25-22. Having lost the momentum, Creston never stayed in contention in game four, falling 25-12, as Atlantic moved on to Tuesday’s regional final with a 3-1 win.
Their opponent will be Dallas Center-Grimes (24-10), which upset 10th-ranked Carroll, 3-1.
Late fade
Creston coach Dee Hurt said her team played its best volleyball of the season in the regional win over Glenwood and early in Thursday’s match, but couldn’t sustain it late.
“It seems like what happens is, we’ll make a mistake, and that person will get down,” Hurt said, “then the next person makes a mistake, and it’s like dominoes. Coach (Mike) McCabe kept saying in that fourth game, ‘you look like you’ve already lost, what’s the deal? We’re not done yet.’ We’ve had four kids sick. They came to school today to be able to play, but I think they kind of wore down.”
Overall, it was a solid performance by the Panthers with 96 percent serving and 88 percent serve receiving, which has been a trouble spot in some matches. Creston held leads in the middle or late stages of each of the first three games, but could come away only with the 2-1 deficit. Atlantic senior star Anna Wernimont took over in the clinching game four.
Afterward Hurt was proud that Creston, a huge underdog, stayed competitive most of the night.
“The girls really came together toward the end of the season,” Hurt said. “We have 14 seniors and they’ve been a really tight group.”
14 seniors
Finishing their careers were Jill Johnson, Karlee Riley, Maria Krejci, Shallie Noecker, Hilary Loudon, Cheyanne Weis, T’Lee Ray, Tessa Wardenburg, Ashley McGehee, Stephanie Routh, Frances Myers, Cassie Abbott, Danielle Price and Leah Hurt.
Atlantic, meanwhile, seeks its first state tournament berth in 20 years in taking on Dallas Center-Grimes, which topped the Trojanns 2-1 in an early-season tournament at Nevada. Lammers said her team may have been caught looking ahead Thursday.
“We didn’t play as hard as we did last week,” Lammers said. “I think we looked past them a little bit. They came out scrappy like they always do. After they beat us in the second game, I said we were playing not to lose instead of being aggressive. You have to go out and hit hard. Mistakes are going to happen, that just part of the process. We have to relax and play our game Tuesday.”
Wernimont, a strong 5-foot-6 senior planning to play college volleyball, and 6-foot junior Kari Sandage each stroked 15 kills Thursday night. Junior Alisha Welter stepped up with nine kills as middle blocker Taylor Young was held out of the match with a back injury.
Paige Kennon’s floating serve stymied the Panthers during Atlantic’s 6-1 run to close out the decisive game three.
“It’s a tough serve to receive and she’s pretty tough back there mentally,” Lammers said. “That’s what you need late in a game.”
Krejci, Hurt and Noecker each hit five kills to pace the Panther attack, and Wardenburg made five solo blocks. Krejci finished her career with a strong performance, also posting a team-high 11 setting assists while going 16-1of-16 at the service line with an ace. Defensive libero Stephanie Routh had 14 digs and was perfect in 13 serves.
Creston closed the season at 10-15, while Atlantic advances at 19-13.
Creston statistics
Serving (aces) — Maria Krejci 16-16 (1), Stephanie Routh 13-13, Jill Johnson 12-12, Shallie Noecker 17-18 (1), Leah Hurt 15-16 (1), Karlee Riley 5-6. Team: 78-81 (3) for 96.2 percent.
Attacks (kills) — Hurt 23-29 (5), Cassie Abbott 16-21 (5), Krejci 19-23 (5), Tessa Wardenburg 16-20 (4), Johnson 11-14 (2), Ashley McGehee 7-11. Team: 94-120 (21).
Blocks (solo-assists) — Wardenburg 5-1, Abbott 3-1.
Setting (assists) — Krejci 11, Riley 10.
Digs — Routh 14, Noecker 13, Hurt 12, Johnson 10, Riley 5, Krejci 4, McGehee 3.
Serve receive (passing 3.0 scale) — Hurt 13-13 (2.7), Krejci 13-15 (2.6), Johnson 14-17 (2.1), Noecker 13-14 (2.2), Routh 7-7 (2.6), McGehee 1-4 (0.8), Wardenburg 1-1 (3.0), Abbott 1-1 (1.0). Team total — 88 percent (2.3).
