Swank reaches milestone in Newton volleyball’s home split

Chloe Swank made history and the Newton volleyball team registered 11 wins for the fourth time in the past six seasons, but the Cardinals felt like they should have had a sweep during a home triangular on Thursday.

Swank registered her 1,000th career dig during a split of two matches against Williamsburg and Des Moines North.

The Cardinals couldn’t hold leads in each set during a 25-22, 25-22 loss to Williamsburg but bounced back to sweep North 25-12, 25-12.

“We could have played better against Williamsburg,” Swank said. “We went into the North match knowing they were scrappy and just played our game and had fun.”

Swank needed 12 digs to reach 1,000 for her career and picked that up in the first match against the Raiders.

But the Cardinals lost leads of 3-1, 6-2, 10-5, 18-12 and 20-17. Delaney Woollums put them in front early and Addie Ratcliff’s kills made it 9-3 and 11-7 later.

Williamsburg (16-8) rallied though to tie the set at 11-all. Two kills and one ace from Macy Lampe put the hosts back in front 15-12 and the lead grew to 18-12 following another Lampe ace and a blast from Emersyn Gross.

Again, the Raiders rallied to pull within 18-17. The back-and-forth continued with Newton (11-13) scoring two straight before the Raiders turned a 22-20 deficit into a 25-22 win.

Woollums and Lampe kept Newton close with Williamsburg early in the second set. A Gross kill started a 3-0 run that pushed the Cardinals in front 11-7.

The lead stayed at least two until the Cardinals scored three in a row to go up 14-9. But the Raiders countered with a 7-0 stretch that put the visitors in front 16-14 and they eventually led 20-16, 22-17 and 23-19 before a small rally and another Woollums kill trimmed the Cardinals’ margin to 23-21.

Williamsburg scored the final two points of the set though and won by four to take the match in two.

The Newton coaches were given a yellow card after a disagreement on a non-call at the net from the official that would have swung at least one point back to the Cardinals.

“There were two calls that didn’t go our way in times where our momentum was helping us,” Swank said. “It really put a hold on our momentum and our attitudes.”

Woollums finished with 11 kills and six digs in the loss, while Lampe added five kills, eight digs and three aces.

Rawlins collected 20 assists and five digs, Swank went beyond 1,000 career digs with 17 in the match and Gross put down four kills.

“I’m so proud of Chloe,” Newton head volleyball coach Heidi Woollums said about Swank’s milestone. “We have been together for a long time — she’s literally like a daughter to me. I couldn’t be happier for her. She had her goals set, and I knew she would meet and exceed them.”

Sloan Brodersen tallied two assists and three digs and Ratcliff registered two kills. The Cardinals were 40-of-42 in serves with Rawlins finishing 11-of-11 and Lampe going 12-of-13.

Newton had a kill efficiency of .145 with Gross leading the way at .800. Woollums posted a kill efficiency of .258.

The Cardinals improved to 6-0 against North (2-11) since 2011. Lampe led the way with four kills, four aces and eight digs.

Rawlins had 22 assists and three digs, Woollums collected 11 kills and three digs and Ratcliff put down five kills.

Swank posted 11 digs and four aces, Gross added four kills and Brodersen chipped in two digs and two aces.

The Cardinals were 46-of-48 in serves with 12 aces. Rawlins served 10-of-10, Swank was 12-of-13 and Lampe finished 11-of-12.

Newton’s kill efficiency was .333 with Woollums and Ratcliff leading the way at .500 and .444, respectively.

Notes: Swank now has a school-record 1,016 career digs. Her 315 digs this season is a career high and ranks seventh in Class 4A. She’s only 12 digs away from having the second most digs in a season in school history. “It has been my goal since last season,” Swank said about reaching the 1,000 dig milestone. “I’m glad I finally got it done.” … Rawlins is currently 234-of-237 in serving. Her 98.7 serve percentage ranks second in 4A. Newton leads 4A with a team serve percentage of 94.9. ... Newton and Williamsburg played for the first time in at least the Bound era.