Newton volleyball comes up short against Oskaloosa

The Newton volleyball team is so close to doing so many special things. The next step is finding a way to get over the hump against teams in the Little Hawkeye Conference.

The Cardinals led Oskaloosa on Tuesday, but the Indians rallied with a tight win in the fourth set and then pulled away in the fifth for a 25-18, 21-25, 20-25, 27-25, 15-8 road win.

“We have to stay in it and not get down our ourselves,” Newton head volleyball coach Heidi Woollums said. “They showed a lot of fight tonight. There was so much good stuff from our team.

“There’s a lot of season left. We have a lot of important games left and we’ll see a lot of these teams again at the Little Hawkeye tournament.”

Kadance Ahn played like the first team all-conference player she is and Macy Lampe and Delaney Woollums posted double-doubles, too, but Newton struggled with serve receive late in the match and couldn’t overcome a fast start by Oskaloosa in the final set.

“I don’t think they beat us. We had to come back from down 10 points in the fourth set just to have a chance,” Coach Woollums said. “We used up so much energy and emotion to get back in it. Why do we have to be down 10 points though?”

Oskaloosa jumped out to a fast start in the opening set. The Indians led 4-1 and eventually pushed their margin to 12-9 and 14-10.

Delaney Woollums put down a pair of kills to keep the Cardinals close early and added two more kills to trim the home team’s deficit to 15-12 and 17-13.

Oskaloosa extended its margin to 22-17 before going on to win by eight.

Ahn tied a career-high with 27 kills and added 17 digs and three blocks, but Oskaloosa keyed in on her in the opening set.

The Indians limited Ahn to three kills in the frame, but the senior hitter got going after that.

She began the second set with a pair of kills that put Newton in front 2-1. Okaloosa though rallied and eventually used a 6-0 run to take an 11-5 lead.

The Cardinals flipped the script after Oskaloosa went in front 16-13. Chloe Rorabaugh put down a kill, Addison White served up an ace and Delaney Woollums put Newton in front 19-17 with a kill of her own.

The advantage moved to 23-19 after a kill from Ahn, a block from Hailey Sumpter and an ace from Macy Lampe. Ahn put the game away with two more kills.

“They were able to stop her enough to win that first set, but I told Kadance they won’t be able to do that the entire match,” Coach Woollums said. “Kadance played great again. She did her job in every aspect of the game.”

Newton (13-10, 1-4 in the conference) kept the momentum in the third set. Oskaloosa helped the cause with five service errors in the first 16 points.

A kill by Ahn put Newton in front 8-6 and then back-to-back blasts by Ahn extended the advantage to 13-8.

The Indians rallied to tie the score at 13-all, but another service error by Oskaloosa put the Cardinals in front again.

The teams drew even at 14- and 15-all, but Newton used a 3-0 run to go in front for good. And then Ahn took over down the stretch, scoring the team’s final five points to put the home team in front 2-1 in the match.

“Teams are going to be zoned in on Kadance from the start,” Coach Woollums said. “They made it a point to dig her and go after her, but she adjusted after that.

“They don’t have an answer for her. But the rest of our team needs to help her out.”

Only three Cardinals had more than one kill in the match. Oskaloosa began the fourth set with a 4-1 lead and then used runs of 4-0 and 5-0 to take a 15-5 lead.

Newton closed the gap to 16-11 on an ace by Delaney Woollums, two kills by Ahn and a block by Sumpter.

Ahn and Sumpter combined for another block later and Ahn delivered consecutive kills to get to within 18-14.

After Oskaloosa went back in front by six a few different times, Delaney Woollums put down a pair of kills and then served up an ace to get her squad within three and Ahn blasted a kill to make it 23-21.

The set was eventually tied at 24- and 25-all but Oskaloosa pulled it out two points later.

“Our serve receive broke down and we had too many double ball handling errors,” Coach Woollums said. “It was things that we did that dug ourselves that hole. They didn’t control the narrative. We fought back great and had a chance to win it though.”

The Indians (10-10, 3-2) maintained momentum in the fifth when they started with a 4-1 lead and then went in front 8-2 after a pair of kills from Hannah Quang.

The Cardinals got within 11-8 after kills by Ahn and Delaney Woollums, but Oskaloosa scored the final four points to close out the victory.

“They came into the huddle looking like they were ready to go and standing there ready to go, but there were some kids that when things went wrong hung their heads,” Coach Woollums said about the fifth set. “They need to want the next ball, not panic and not worry about things.”

Delaney Woollums finished with 12 kills, 13 digs and two aces, Lampe added 39 assists and 10 digs and Sumpter chipped in a career-best six blocks and 10 digs.

Chloe Swank tallied 18 digs, Haylie Ryan chipped in five digs and Rorabaugh put down three kills.

Ahn’s kill efficiency was .276 and Delaney Woollums posted a .243, but the Cardinals’ team efficiency was .181. They also were 90-of-97 in serves with six aces and 12 blocks.

Sumpter served 21-of-21, while Swank was 13-of-13 and White finished 12-of-12. Lampe served 18-of-19.

“Our passing broke down at times. But other times we hustled after stuff and dove after everything,” Coach Woollums said. “There were so many great hustle plays. Our crowd was amazing. The students were into it.”

Notes: Ahn ranks 10th in Class 4A with 248 kills and is ninth with 40 aces. … The Cardinals rank ninth in the state and second in 4A with a team serve percentage of 93.9. White is 111-of-111 in serves, while Sumpter is 220-of-231, Lampe is 184-of-193, Delaney Woollums is 167-of-174 and Swank is 146-of-155.