Young Cardinals have on-the-job training in home volleyball tournament

Highlights were there in all five losses for the young Newton High Cardinal volleyball team. The Cardinals came out of their season opener — the Newton Early Bird Volleyball Invitational — winless but wiser.

“Great things can happen for this team. I told them before that last set that win or lose they needed to walk out of the gym knowing they left everything on the court. They did that,” said first-year NHS head coach Laura Rowen.

Sure, Rowen and the Cardinals wanted to win sets and matches Tuesday night at home, but the inexperience factor reared its head. Newton lost 21-7, 21-14 to Knoxville, 21-15, 22-20 to Carlisle, 21-9, 21-2 to West Des Moines Dowling Catholic, 21-17, 21-18 to Adel-DeSoto-Minburn, and 21-18, 22-20 to Oskaloosa.

“We’re young. With a team this young, you learn from making mistakes,” Rowen said. “I saw a lot of fight in these girls tonight. The beginning was rough and we were timid, but by the last match, we were battling. We almost won that match.”

Almost was a big factor on the night for Newton. The Cardinals almost had three wins on the night but came up short against Carlisle, ADM and Oskaloosa. The only match the Cardinals were really out of was against Dowling Catholic.

Dowling Catholic went 5-0 in the tournament. Knoxville and ADM were 3-2 while Carlisle and Oskaloosa each posted a 2-3 mark Tuesday.

Newton only has one senior on the varsity roster in Sydney Hemann. The Cardinals have just one returning starter from a year ago in sophomore Megan Pressgrove. Sophomore Kaytlin Ahn had limited varsity experience.

In the opener against Knoxville, Newton did not score an offensive point the first set. Ahn, who finished with 14 service points on the night, served the first offensive point for the Cardinals to start the second set and Hemann had an ace serve in the 21-14 loss.

Carlisle controlled the first set of the match with Newton. The Cardinals were down 3-2 in the second set when Allison Ergenbright served up three straight points. Facing a 15-14 deficit, Ahn ripped off a five-point run for the Cardinals.

Taylor Shipley’s kill made it 20-16 and gave the serve back to Newton, but the Cards couldn’t hold it. Carlisle rattled off five points to rally for the win.

The match with Iowa Class 5A third-ranked Dowling Catholic started off with a bang. Ahn delivered a resounding kill shot past the Maroons’ middle blocker/hitter Mykal Sadler. The Maroons took over from there.

Newton battled hard against ADM and Oskaloosa in the final two matches. The Cardinals had back-and-forth matches against both teams.

Newton’s Ahn and Pressgrove made noise at the net with kills and blocks. Shipley had a block against ADM, then served up four points. The teams were locked in a 17-all first set when ADM served four points to win.

Newton was down 8-5 in the second set and Ryanne Rausch had a serving run of five points with Pressgrove delivering a block at the net and Bailey Davis downing a kill. ADM got the 21-18 set win for the match victory.

“I saw a lot of changes from the beginning of the night to the end of the night,” Rowen said. “We have only up to go. It comes down to being more confident in their decisions on the court. There were a lot of times tonight, the girls made the right decision but hesitated.”

In the Oskaloosa match, Morgan Allen had a kill and a block at the net in the opening set. Rausch was credited with two kills when the ball hit the top of the net each time and trickled over off the tape. Newton led late in the set — 18-17 — and lost 21-18.

That is how it went for the Cardinals. They almost got wins. They were up 20-18 in the second set on a serve by Hemann, but could not hold serve for the final point. Oskaloosa  served out the set and match, 22-20.

Rowen said developing players who can finish will come as will finding the girls who will step up to have a strong presence at the net for the Cardinals.

Rausch served for 11 points on the night and had two aces while Pressgrove served up nine points. Ergenbright had eight points from the service line, and five were ace serves. Shipley and Lucas each had six service points and Hemann had five.

At the net, Pressgrove and Shipley each had 10 kills followed by Ahn’s seven. Morgan Allen had six assisted blocks and Pressgrove had five assisted blocks. Ahn and Davis each were credited with three assisted blocks.

Alyssa Bartels, Shipley and Ergenbright had an assisted block apiece. Rausch, Bartels and Ergenbright each had two kills while Allen and Davis each had one kill.

Pressgrove had 11 set assists and Shipley had five assists. Lucas and Ahn each had 24 digs on the night and Pressgrove had 17 digs. Rausch had nine digs and Bartels had six digs.

Newton has a little more than a week to prepare for its next action. The Cardinals go to the ADM Invitational at Adel on Sept. 4.

Contact Sports Editor Jocelyn Sheets at (641) 792-3121 Ext. 6535 or jsheets@newtondailynews.com.