Newton volleyball wins Early Bird Invitational title

Newton sophomore Kadance Ahn was the only freshman on a team chalked full of seniors last year.

This year, she’s the elder statesmen on a Cardinal volleyball squad that has a bunch of newbies.

Ahn’s role may have changed but what she gives the Cardinals on a night by night basis likely won’t.

And on Tuesday night, Ahn led Newton to a team title in the Cardinals’ Early Bird Invitational.

“Last year helped having Kate (Callaghan) and Kynnedei (Terpstra) and the other seniors. They were all good leaders and I learned a lot from them,” Ahn said. “I was aware the role would change this season and it’s a lot, but I wouldn’t change it for anything. I like being the one who they can go to and count on to put balls down.”

Ahn put several balls to the floor in the Cardinals’ three matches. She finished with 27 kills in the tournament and Newton claimed the team championship following straight-set wins over Saydel and Des Moines Hoover and a three-set victory over PCM.

The Cardinals are 3-0 for the third straight season. Newton finished second in this tournament last fall.

It was the first wins for new varsity head coach Heidi Woollums, who got a surprising text after Newton won its first match of the night.

“I had to laugh a little a bit after we played Saydel. I got a text that said ‘congrats on your first win.’ It was from Florke,” Woollums said. “That’s pretty awesome. She’s watching somewhere.”

Woollums was referring to former head coach Kim Florke. Woollums served as Florke’s top assistant for more than a decade before getting the head gig this offseason.

Newton wasn’t perfect. The Cardinals have things to work on. But it’s better to be working on those things at 3-0 than 2-1 or 1-2 or even 0-3.

“It’s a big confidence booster. You can’t ask for anything more than to be 3-0,” Ahn said.

PCM head coach Mike Vittetoe also liked how his squad looked. The Mustangs started 2-0 before losing to the Cardinals in three sets. Newton won the championship match 22-20, 15-21, 15-6.

“They played hard and they have a lot of heart. I saw a lot of good things,” Vittetoe said. “It gives them some confidence. It was great to start off with two wins in a row and have a chance at a third one.

“That was a tough loss in the first game. We just missed too many serves. We missed five serves and lost 22-20. So if you only miss two serves out of five, we probably win that game.”

Newton opened with a 21-13, 21-10 win over Saydel and then handed Hoover a 21-10, 21-7 loss.

PCM started with a 21-9, 21-13 win over Hoover and then downed conference foe Saydel by the same score.

In the final match of the night, the opening set decided the match. Neither team led by more than three points.

Newton went in front 8-5 early but a kill by senior Chelsea Bird and an ace by junior RaeAnn Duinink closed the gap for the Mustangs. But a serve error gave momentum back to Newton (3-0).

PCM would eventually go up 11-10 on back-to-back aces by senior Claire Wilson, but another serving error evened the set at 12-all.

There were seven ties after that before the Cardinals won the game following a hitting error and net violation by the Mustangs (2-1).

“We lost the match on that first game. We just had too many unforced errors,” Vittetoe said.

PCM bounced back with a convincing win in the second set. The Mustangs jumped out to a 3-0 lead but an Ahn kill tied it up. Another Ahn kill made it 6-5 and an Ahn ace put the Cardinals in front 9-6.

The set was tied at 15-all, but PCM rolled off six straight points to even the match at one game apiece.

The third set started close. Two kills by Ahn were sandwiched between a kill by PCM senior Emily Foster. A third Ahn kill put Newton on top 6-3 and senior Aurora Nehring did the rest.

Nehring pushed the lead to 9-3 with back-to-back kills and then finished off PCM with back-to-back kills later.

“Aurora is amazing. What I love most about her is she sees the ball and goes after the ball,” Woollums said. “It doesn’t matter where it is. She doesn’t overthink it. She’s that kid that can just get a touch on a lot of balls.”

Woollums was impressed with how her young squad bounced back after losing the second set.

“PCM always plays us tough here. I was impressed with them, but I was proud of our girls, too,” Woollums said. “We struggled in the second set and made a lot of errors. Anything can happen in the final set and they stepped up, took control and didn’t back down. I think the team grew in that moment. To be as young as we are, to be able to come out on top is never a bad thing.”

Each team played without a middle hitter as Newton senior Emma Rogers will miss the first few matches of the season. PCM sophomore Reese Palm suffered an injury in practice on Monday and did not play for the Mustangs.

Ahn collected her first double-double of the season, tallying 10 kills, 12 digs and two aces in the win.

Freshman Macy Lampe dished out 22 assists, had five digs and was 13-of-13 in serves. Nehring collected five kills and five digs, junior Audrey Rausch added five kills and four digs and freshman libero Chloe Swank chipped in nine digs. Junior Emily Wermager finished with five digs.

The Cardinals were 44-of-51 in serves with sophomore Hailey Sumpter serving 7-of-8.

PCM was led by Bird, who had five kills and five digs. Junior Sidney Shaver dished out six assists, Wilson finished with two kills and three aces and junior Riley Johannes added eight digs. Duinink chipped in three digs.

PCM was 37-of-46 in serves for the match with Wilson serving 9-of-9.

Against Hoover (0-3), Ahn finished with eight kills and two digs, Lampe tallied 14 assists and two aces and Rausch put down five kills and served up three aces.

Nehring totaled five kills, Wermager chipped in three digs and Sumpter was 12-of-12 in serves with three aces. Swank served up two aces and Newton was 36-of-40 in serves overall.

“I worried about the nerves coming in because most of them have never played in a varsity match,” Woollums said. “I don’t think I saw that tonight. The first few points were a little rough but they cleaned it up and took control.”

In the win over Saydel (1-2), Ahn tallied nine kills, three digs and two aces, Lampe delivered 14 assists and had two digs and Nehring put down five kills.

Wermager tallied five digs, Sumpter totaled two digs and three aces and Rausch added two digs and two aces.

Newton was 37-of-40 in serves with Sumpter going 11-for-11 and Rausch was 10-for-10.

“We told them they should come in here relaxed, compete hard and be confident we can get three wins,” Woollums said. “Can we be more aggressive in a few situations, absolutely. Is there a lot of room to grow, absolutely. I do think they handled themselves well tonight and I am proud of how they did.”

In PCM’s win over Hoover, junior Joslin Briles had three kills and three aces, Bird tallied four kills and two aces and Shaver, sophomore Eliana Buswell and freshman Addy Steenhoek all had three assists. Shaver also served up a pair of aces.

Johannes had three aces and PCM was 37-of-41 in serves overall.

“We have some things to work on,” Vittetoe said. “Our transition seems a little slow. That’s the biggest thing, but that’s stuff we can clean up.”

Johannes finished with five kills, six digs and three aces in the win over Saydel. Shaver added eight assists and five digs, Wilson chipped in three kills, four digs and two aces and Bird had two kills and two digs. Duinink finished with a team-high nine digs.

The Mustangs were 36-of-41 in serves with Wilson serving 13-of-13.

“I like the energy of this team. That’s this team’s personality. That is something we talked about,” Vittetoe said. “That was probably the most energy I have seen in a couple years. Even the girls on the bench who weren’t playing stayed into the matches with high energy.”