An early season Tri-County Conference battle was close early Thursday night in Henry as Henry-Senachwine battled Putnam County.

But as the night went on, the big hitters and the experience for the Mallards helped them to a 25-14, 25-15 victory over the visiting Panthers.

Right out of the gate, Brooklynn Thompson showed her big hitting abilities with a kill to start the scoring.

But the Panthers responded as an ace from Kennedy Holocker tied the game at 2-2.

After a couple of errors from the Mallards, Putnam County took the lead at 5-2 off a Henry shot that sailed into the net.

But the Mallards answered with a 5-0 run led by Brynna Anderson, who after a nice dig, found a hole between Putnam County defenders before back-to-back kills from Harper Schrock gave Henry a 7-5 advantage.

“I think we really feed off of each other,” Schrock said. “And this crowd is amazing. When they’re loud, it just gets us going even more.”

After a combined block from Ella Pyszka and Alyvia Wachowiak the Panthers regained the lead 9-8, but it was short lived as Anderson hammered a shot down to tie the game again.

The back and forth affair continued as Addy Leatherman hit a shot into the corner and then Anderson tied it again as she found a hole in the defense.

After Grace Anderson was called for a net violation to give the Panthers an 11-10 lead, it was all Henry the remainder of the night.

Rachel Eckert hit a shot off the defenders of Putnam County and then Thompson followed with a big kill to take the lead for good at 12-11.

“I think we did a nice job of hitting some touch shots and that really opened things up for our hitters,” Henry coach Hope Vinson said. “Then we had Brynna Anderson playing outstanding defense tonight on top of everything else and that’s tough to beat.”

Eckert picked up a block for Henry and then after a Putnam County error, Eckert served up an ace as the lead grew to 17-12.

Pyszka hit a shot across her body that just went over the net for the Panthers, but it wasn’t enough as Alison Mitchell served up an ace and then Schrock added a dink shot as the Mallards took the opening set 25-14.

Putnam County started out the second set strong with an ace from Britney Trinidad for an early 2-0 lead, but back-to-back errors quickly tied the game.

On the following play, Pyszka made a nice dig to keep the play alive, but Anderson put a stop to the rally with a kill to give Henry a 3-2 edge.

Anderson followed that with a nice tip and then Mitchell’s shot crawled over the net to finish off a 6-0 Mallards run.

A service error gave the ball back to the Panthers, who then picked up an ace from Holocker, but then a service error, a shot into the net and one that sailed wide helped the Henry lead grow to 10-4.

Back-to-back aces from Mitchell and a shot down the middle of the court capped off a 7-0 Henry run for a 13-4 lead.

“I was really happy with the effort tonight,” Putnam County coach Amy Bell said. “We capitalized off some early mistakes, but Henry is a good team who’s played a lot of volleyball going to sectional last year. I think we have the potential to be a good team. We’re still learning to talk to each other and that just takes time.”

After a nice rally by both teams, Henry made it 14-6 after a Pyszka shot went long. Then the teams combined for three straight service errors before a nice touch shot in the corner from Eckert made it 17-8 Mallards.

Putnam County continued to fight as Paige Tonioni picked up a nice dig, but to no avail as Thompson finished off the play with a kill.

Cadence Breckenridge hit a cross court kill to make it 20-12, but another service error gave the ball right back to the Mallards, who got a kill from Schrock as they came away with a 25-15 second set victory.

Schrock led the Mallards (3-0, 1-0 TCC) with nine kills, Anderson had six kills, 10 digs and six assists, Thompson contributed 12 points, seven digs and four kills and Eckert added 14 assists, three kills and an ace.

Putnam County (1-2, 0-1) was led by Holocker with five points and 11 digs, while Myah Richardson had three kills and five digs.

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Members of the Henry-Senachwine volleyball team celebrate after winning the first set over Putnam County on Thursday, Aug. 28, 2025 at Henry-Senachwine High School. (Scott Anderson)