Newton drops LHC match at home

Newton High’s Cardinals got what they asked for — a sea of pink and noise in the gym. On the night the Cardinals honored those battling cancer, they couldn’t provide a strong performance on the volleyball court against visiting Oskaloosa.

“We had a great crowd tonight for such a wonderful event and great cause. We would really like to thank everyone who made it out tonight. Your support for our team, the Side-Out Foundation, breast cancer research funding, and all of those who are affected by cancer greatly appreciate it,” said Laura Rowen, NHS head coach.

“The past week in practice the girls have really made great strides that we just did not see out on the court tonight.”

Oskaloosa’s Indians captured a 25-15, 25-18, 25-12 win in Little Hawkeye Conference play over the Cardinals.

“The girls need to remember to play the game, play their game of volleyball, the one we have seen all week in practice and not worry so much about playing the team across the net. We focus on us, on doing the little things, fighting hard for every ball and the big picture will come,” Rowen said.

Before the varsity match, the Cardinal volleyball team announced is funds raised for the Side-Out Foundation on Dig Pink for breast cancer awareness. Honorary coach Peggy Smith, aunt of NHS team member Jessie Smith, represented cancer patients and was given a large check for the team’s $1,097 raised. The final amount raised by the team was $1,300.

Newton fell behind Oskaloosa, 11-6. but battled back to within one, 11-10. Senior Sydney Hemann served three straight points for the Cardinals. The Indians got the serve back and rattled off six consecutive points to stake out a 10-point lead in the first set.

In the second set, the Cardinals were behind 7-3 and Hemann served up five straight points. The second point came after the Cardinals waited for the ball to fall back down from the ceiling netting, then they made a play to get the ball back over the net.

There was another wait in that set. There was a problem in the scorebook. Play resumed with Oskaloosa moving out to an 11-10 lead.

Ryanne Rausch was at the service line for Newton when Courtney Jacobsen made a tip for a point. Rausch served two points but the Cardinals could not string enough points together on serves. They were down 22-18 when the Indians served out the set with the final three points.

Oskaloosa pushed out to a 9-2 lead in the third set and Newton never got back in the match.

Hemann served up nine points and had one ace serve for the Cardinals. Rausch had four points and Taylor Shipley served for three points. Fran Lucas and Bailey Davis each had one point on an ace serve. Megan Pressgrove had one service point.

At the net, Pressgrove had four kills followed by Hemann with three kills. Emily Fitzgerald, Jacobsen and Lucas each had two kills. Morgan Allen and Rausch had one kill apiece. Rausch, Allen, Fitzgerald and Pressgrove each had one block assist. Hemann was credited with nine set assists and Pressgrove had four set assists.

Lucas came up with eight digs and Rausch had six digs. Pressgrove had five digs and Shipley had four digs. Hemann had two digs and Jacobsen had one dig.

Oskaloosa won the junior varsity match, 25-23, 25-19. Audrey Lucas, Jacobsen and Jessie Smith each had three kills followed by Stephanie Hoboheinrich and Lucy Lilienthal with two kills apiece. Adrienne Bergman had one kills. Hoboheinrich put up seven set assists.

Carter Lee had 10 digs for the NHS junior varsity. Lucas had five digs, Jacobsen had three digs and Bergman had two digs. Lilienthal and Lucas each had two service aces and Jacobsen had one service ace.

“We had moments of brilliance with great hits, blocks, and rallies, followed by moments of ‘not-so-great’ volleyball. We would let them run three and four serves at a time. It’s hard to win matches when you are constantly trying to play ‘catch-up,’” said Mallory Sturtz, NHS assistant coach. “

Overall, the girls played well. I was proud of how they battled back from as much as 10 points at one time. We are going to work hard this week and really focus on tip coverage as well as the ability to side out immediately.”

Newton’s freshmen posted a 28-26, 13-25, 15-11 win over Oskaloosa. Alexis Hoffman had four kills, one solo block, two digs and two ace serves for the Cardinals. Jordan Banfield put up eight set assists and had two digs. Mackenzie Johnson made 20 digs and served three aces. Kayla Sopher had one kill and one ace serve, while Liz McVey had one ace and two digs, Addy Blom had one kill and two digs and Katie Suttek had one kill.

“The freshmen played some very good volleyball tonight.  We came out ready to play, winning the first set, but in the second set we were out our zone,” said Jennifer Mouchka, NHS freshman coach. “The girls came back the third set and fought hard for every point to win. We were short on numbers so the girls stepped up and played well.”

Newton’s volleyball teams play at Pella Tuesday in Little Hawkeye Conference action.

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