Craig passes 1,000-dig mark as Cyclones beat Creston

 HARLAN (October 10) -- Sometime during the third set Tuesday night, Harlan Community’s student section erupted in cheers and held up a sign congratulating senior libero Sidney Craig on career dig number 1,000.
 While appreciative of the gesture, as well as her peers’ constant enthusiasm in the stands, Craig was fairly certain she had already passed the four-digit milestone in set two with her fifth dig of the match.
 “They don’t know what a dig is, I guess,” Craig said with a laugh.
 On this night, no one could blame Craig for being in somewhat of a jovial mood. The Cyclone volleyball team had just wrapped up Hawkeye Ten Conference play with a four-set win over Creston (25-11, 17-25, 25-21, 25-16), clinching fifth place in the league standings with a 6-4 record.
 It was also Senior Night for Craig and fellow teammates Delaney Kelly, Lexi Larsen, Haley Leinen, Lexie Holloway and manager Ellen Keast, who have been playing together since the fourth grade.
 Individually, Craig became just the third player in school history to record 1,000 career digs, joining the likes of school record-holder Asia Kloewer (1,446) and Allison Stracke (1,004). And she really was grateful for all the support.
 “It’s exciting,” she said. “Once the student body held up the sign, butterflies rushed up me and it felt really good.
 “There was a lot of emotions because it’s our last conference game together... but it was fun to win.”
 Ranked 15th in Class 4A, the Cyclones improved to 19-10 overall with their 11th win in the last 14 matches. They played very well in the opening set, which included an 11-0 run with Craig behind the service line, then came out flat in set two and never fully recovered after falling behind 9-2.
 Order was restored the rest of the way, however, as HCHS opened set three with a 10-3 run and held off a late Panther charge, then basically controlled the fourth set from start to finish.