Eleven seniors hope to boost Newton volleyball

The last time Newton volleyball coach Kim Florke had a large number of seniors, the Cardinals went 26-13 and won the Little Hawkeye Conference championship.

That was in 2013 and Newton had seven seniors that season. It also was the last time the Cardinals finished with a winning record.

Florke hopes to repeat that memory in 2020 and she will have 11 seniors to work with in her second year back after a five-year hiatus.

“Year two has been much easier. They knows the drills better and they know what I expect from them,” Florke said. “We’ve been able to advance so much further than we ever could before. They just know the expectations.”

The 2020 season is expected to be Florke’s final year with the program as she plans to retire from both teaching and coaching.

The start of the final year of her 17-year career as head coach has been rather memorable.

Aside from the COVID-19 pandemic, the Cardinals have worked through a nasty storm, gym renovations, equipment troubles, a fire alarm and a bat camping out on the floor in the high school gym.

“If we can get through the preseason practices, the matches might be a piece of cake compared to what we have already dealt with,” Florke said.

“We missed two practices the first week because of the storm. And we spent a lot of time over at Berg while they re-did our gym.”

Florke doesn’t feel behind though because of the high number of seniors.

In fact, they are starting practices with six on six stuff and not the fundamentals to boost the team’s energy levels earlier in practice.

“We do the mental drills at the end when they are tired. That helps us with our fundamentals and will help in four- or five-set matches that we have during the season,” Florke said.

The top returning senior on this year’s team is setter Kate Callaghan, who led the Cardinals with 127 kills, 368 assists, 230 digs and 28 aces last year. She was second to her twin sister Meg Callaghan in blocks with 23.

Meg Callaghan tallied 104 kills and a team-high 37 blocks last year as a middle hitter.

Getting the Callaghan twins back when there was a little uncertainty is big for the program.

“It’s huge for us. Having our setter back is like having the quarterback back,” Florke said. “They hold us together. We are very happy they decided to stay for their final year. I believe Kate Callaghan is an all-state setter. Meg is an excellent middle blocker.”

The team’s other middle hitter is senior Jerrica McGuire. She was third on the team last year with 70 kills and also had 10 assists, 41 digs, 19 blocks and 22 aces.

The outside hitters are senior Kynnedei Terpstra, junior Alyssa Shannon and freshman Kadance Ahn, who will play all the way around. The right-side hitter is expected to be senior Tess Brunsmann.

Terpstra finished with 67 kills, 54 digs and 14 aces last year. Brunsmann had 14 kills a year ago.

The back row specialists include returning starter Lainey Hull, Katie McConnell, Haley Fuller and Riley Davidson, who are all seniors. Hull collected 40 digs last year.

“This group has stuck together. They know we can’t play every kid, but they are working hard in practice,” Florke said. “They are doing the right things. I’m proud of the fact that they are all still here as seniors.”

Newton is coming off an 11-19 season in 2019. The only team in the LHC it defeated was Grinnell, and the Cardinals were 3-1 against the Tigers.

Florke expects to fare better than that this season, but the LHC remains a tough conference to compete in.

Indianola starts the season ranked 15th in 5A and Pella is 12th in 4A.

“I told the kids on the first day of open gym that I think we can win 20 matches. There were some matches last year that we should have won,” Florke said. “If Kate Callaghan leads us in kills we will not be successful. That can’t happen. Someone else has to step up. Our hitters are much improved, but we are still looking for more consistency. I think that’s coming.”

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced every athletic team to be extra careful this fall. And things could go sideways in a hurry.

The Cardinals are developing flexibility with their lineups in case someone has to play somewhere they aren’t used to playing.

“We have to get our kids ready to play another position at a moment’s notice. We really don’t know when and if we’ll have anyone out,” Florke said. “We are prepared that if we have a player go down for two weeks that we have someone to step in and take over.”