March 29, 2024

Fillies bolt past Cardinals

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Flashes of brilliance. That’s what Newton High head coach Laura Rowen said she saw from the Cardinal varsity volleyball team Tuesday night.

“There were flashes of brillance, but we need to fight to be more consistent. I tell our girls there’s a beginning, a middle and an end to a set and a match,” Rowen said. “And you have to play a beginning, a middle and an end. In volleyball, you can lose a set real fast if you don’t play all three.”

The Cardinals did not play all three parts of a set and a match against visiting Dallas Center-Grimes in Little Hawkeye Conference action. The Fillies posted a 25-10, 25-19, 25-20 win over the Cardinals.

Newton can look at the second set to see a microcosm of its season to date. The Cardinals appeared on their way to taking a set from the Fillies.

The Cardinals jumped out to a 6-4 lead when Fran Lucas and Ryanne Rausch each served for two points. Newton was making plays at the net. With Megan Pressgrove serving, Courtney Jacobsen downed a kill to put Newton up 13-7.

Lucas’s ace serve and a tip by Kaytlin Ahn pushed the Cardinals’ advantage to 17-11. Newton held a 19-12 lead and had the serve.

“They (the Cardinals) get too comfortable. They think ‘we’re up 19-12, no problem,’” Rowen said. “In the game of volleyball, tides can turn really quickly. We quit doing the little things and quit being aggressive.”

It only took one server — Jenna Humke — for Dallas Center-Grimes to erase the deficit and win the set. Humke served up 12 consecutive points.

“No, DCG was not pounding the ball at us that much at that time. We just made too many errors on our side of the net,” Rowen said.

The third set went back-and-forth. Taylor Shipley served for two points, one coming on a play at the net by Pressgrove, and the set was tied a 7-all. The Fillies moved out to a 12-9 lead, the Cardinals battled.

“I told our girls the huge disappointment for me tonight was that the last six or seven points of the third set was the hardest we played all night. Where was that earlier?” Rowen said. “We did get a little energy in that set from the student crowd. Part of being out there on the court is to play for somebody, so if we can get a crowd here and get the gym loud, it would help the girls.”

Newton served just 19 of its 49 points scored in the match. Lucas served up five points followed by Rausch with four. Bailey Davis and Shipley with three points each, and Pressgrove with two points. Ahn and Jacobsen each had one service point. Lucas had two ace serves and Jacobsen one ace.

Pressgrove delivered six kills and two block assists at the net and Ahn made a solo block and had four kills. Morgan Allen and Jacobsen each had one kill. Allen and Allison Engrenbright had two assisted blocks.

Pressgrove was credited with five set assists and Shipley had four set assists. Sydney Hemann had two set assists. Jacobsen had a set assist.

Lucas came up with 10 digs defensively. Rausch came up with six digs, Pressgrove had five digs and Ahn had two digs.

“If we decide to show up and play the whole set, the whole match, we can be dangerous. We need to get that. We’ve been working on it in practice. We’ve picked up the pace of practice. The girls react great in practice. We have to transfer that to the court on game days,” Rowen said.

Newton’s varsity falls to 3-14 overall and 0-2 in Little Hawkeye Conference play. The Cardinals play in Saturday’s Nevada Invitational.

The Cardinal junior varsity lost to Dallas Center-Grimes, 25-19, 29-27. Newton is 1-1 in conference play. The junior varsity plays in a tournament at Indianola Saturday.

“Although, the outcome wasn’t in our favor, I was pretty pleased with how the girls played,” said Mallory Sturtz, NHS junior varsity coach. “Our emphasis tonight was on finishing and playing with the instinct to win. We make a goal each night to be the first team to 5, 10, 15, 20, and 25.”

Adrienne Bergman and Jacobsen each had three kills followed by Alyssa Bartels, Davis and Emily Fitzgerald each with two kills. Shipley put up five set assists and Stephanie Hobobeinrich had two set assists.

Elise Axtel had 10 digs and Savannah Reicks had six digs. Bartels and Jessie Smith had one block each at the net. Bergman had one service ace.

“Tonight, we were the first team to three out of the five mini games,” Sturtz said. “We are going to work hard these next three days on finishing so we can assure we will be the first team to 25 every set this weekend.”

Newton’s freshmen recorded a 25-12, 25-20 win over DCG.

Alexis Hoffman served up seven aces, Lizzie McVey had four ace serves, Audrey Lucas had three aces, Natalie Camp had three ace serves, Kinzie Loree had one ace and Kayla Sopher had one ace serve. Mackenzie Johnson had 15 digs.

Hoffman downed six kills and Loree had five kills. Lucy Lilienthal had three kills and two assisted blocks at the net. Camp had two kills and Addy Blom had one kill. Lucas was credited with 10 set assists.

“The girls came out ready to play tonight and had a really good evening of volleyball,” said Jennifer Mouchka, NHS freshman squad coach. “They played hard, worked together as a team on the court and had fun. I am very proud of how the girls played tonight.”

Contact Sports Editor Jocelyn Sheets at (641) 792-3121 Ext. 6535 or jsheets@newtondailynews.com.