Cardinal volleyball pushes state-ranked Comets to the brink

The Newton volleyball team equaled its win total from the past two seasons on Thursday, and it wasn’t even September yet.

And then they nearly surpassed it against Class 4A No. 12 North Polk.

A 1-1 night at a home triangular pushed the Cardinals to 7-2 for the season, but Cardinal head volleyball coach Heidi Woollums and senior captain Kadance Ahn still felt a bit of frustration after a three-set loss to the Comets.

It came on the heels of a four-set competitive loss to 4A No. 14 Dallas Center-Grimes on Tuesday.

“I think playing DCG tougher than we have in a while gave us confidence coming into tonight,” Woollums said. “I haven’t seen that good of volleyball played by us in that gym in quite a while. Even though we lost, that was some great volleyball. I just wish we could have pulled that one out.”

After sweeping Grand View Christian 25-14, 25-10, the Cardinals fell behind 1-0 against North Polk.

Newton lost the opening set 25-17 but forced a third and final frame following a 25-21 win in the second set. The Cardinals led a back-and-forth third set 14-13 but lost the final three points and dropped the match.

“We’ve been waiting for years to even compete with teams like that,” Ahn said. “It sucks that we’ve worked so hard and we came up a bit short. We are starting to show how we can play so it is frustrating to lose that one. But it will start going our way.”

Ahn was fantastic again, finishing with 13 kills and 11 digs in the loss, but Delaney Woollums and Chloe Rorabaugh were big at the net, Haylie Ryan set a new career-best for digs and the Cardinals missed just two serves.

Newton started strong in the opening set against North Polk. An ace by Hailey Sumpter and back-to-back kills by Rorabaugh and Ahn made it 4-0, but the Comets (7-2) rallied to even things at 5-all.

It stayed tied at 7-all before North Polk rattled off six in a row to grab control of the game. The Cardinals didn’t get closer than four the rest of the way.

The second set was tied at 3-, 5- and 6-all before a tip by Ahn, a service error by the Comets and another blast by Rorabaugh made it 10-7.

The Cardinals pushed the margin to 12-9 and an ace by Ryan kept the lead at three (14-11).

North Polk closed to within 17-15, but a cross-court kill by Sumpter and another big blast by the senior middle hitter gave Newton a 19-16 lead. A kill from Ahn pushed the margin to 20-16 and Delaney Woollums ended the set with a kill several points later.

Delaney Woollums finished with six kills, seven digs and two aces.

“She’s taking some of the pressure off me,” Ahn said about Woollums. “Being able to get out of rotations with me in the back row is important. When she’s confident, she can put the ball down. And we need that.”

Delaney Woollums and Ahn went back to work in the final set. The junior hitter scored the first point of the frame and kills by Ahn put Newton in front 5-4 and 6-5.

A tip by Macy Lampe evened the set at 10-all and a foot fault on a serve by North Polk kept things tied at 11-all.

The Cardinals led 13-12 and 14-13 and there were 12 ties in the game.

Coach Woollums said an adjustment after the first set helped the Cardinals rally and forced the Comets to play three full sets.

“Delaney was up against their giant early in the first set so things didn’t go great,” Coach Woollums said. “I switched up the lineup to put Kadance with her the final two sets and we played much better as a team. It completely changed the game.”

Both Ahn and Lampe finished with double-doubles. Ahn registered 13 kills and 11 digs and Lampe had 24 assists and 10 digs.

Rorabaugh put down five kills and tallied three digs, Sumpter added three kills and four digs and Ryan collected a career-best 11 digs.

Chloe Swank and Addison White posted 10 and three digs, respectively.

The Cardinals were 52-of-54 in serves with five aces.

Newton had little trouble with Grand View Christian, which reached a 2A regional final and won 33 matches last season.

Three kills by Ahn early put the home team in front 4-2 and Delaney Woollums pushed the advantage to 6-3, 8-5 and 10-6 following three kills.

Kills by Ahn extended the margin to 15-6 and 18-12 and an ace by Ahn made it 20-12.

Newton’s final four points came on two kills by Delaney Woollums and one kill each from Rorabaugh and Ahn.

Two Sumpter aces put the Cardinals in front 4-1 in the second set. Two blocks by Rorabaugh and a kill by Delaney Woollums forced a Thunder timeout at 8-3.

Back-to-back aces by Delaney Woollums later extended the advantage to 16-7 and Ahn registered a block and a kill to make it 18-9.

The Cardinals scored seven of the next eight points to win the set and the match with ease.

Ahn led the Cardinals with 11 kills and six digs and Delaney Woollums tallied nine kills, six digs and two aces.

“She stepped up and swung today,” Coach Woollums said about her daughter. “Even when she doesn’t feel comfortable swinging, she needs to swing. She needs to believe in herself and tonight she showed that.”

Lampe added 17 assists and two digs, Addison Hook collected eight assists and four digs and Swank registered 14 digs.

Sumpter chipped in two kills, three digs and two aces, Ryan posted three kills and two digs and Rorabaugh put down two kills.

The Cardinals were 48-of-50 in serves with six aces.

“That’s huge for us,” Ahn said about equaling last year’s win total. “We are chipping away at the good teams. I feel like we’re close. I think we’ll get there.”