April 25, 2024

Cardinals fall to Lady Dutch in LHC match

By Jocelyn Sheets

Taylor Shipley, Newton High sophomore, dives to dig the volleyball on the back row during a recent home match with sophomore Megan Pressgrove on her right. Newton played at Pella Tuesday and lost to the Lady Dutch in Little Hawkeye Conference play. (Jocelyn Sheets)

PELLA — Consistency of play on the volleyball court is an issue for Newton High’s Cardinals. The Cardinals struggled to get their game going Tuesday in Little Hawkeye Conference play at Pella Community High School.

By the time the Cardinals got up to speed, the Little Dutch had already taken the first two sets. The Lady Dutch handed the Cardinals a 25-4, 25-13, 25-18 loss. Newton dropped to 0-5 in LHC matches.

“We had a rough night. We can not show up and play one game out of the match,” said Laura Rowen, Newton head coach. “The girls finished the match playing a hard fought game, which was a positive.”

Morgan Allen was the top performer at the net for Newton against Pella. Allen delivered three kills and had one solo block and one assisted block. Bailey Davis, Taylor Shipley and Megan Pressgrove each downed two kills.

Pressgrove was credited with five set assists while Sydney Hemann had one set assist. Pressgrove made seven digs and Fran Lucas had four digs. Ryanne Rausch and Stephanie Hoebelheinrich each had three digs.

“Our focus for the rest of the season is to make every team we play fight for each point they may take from us, give the extra inch and play hard to the end,” Rowen said.

Newton’s varsity plays in the Johnston tournament Saturday. The Cardinals wrap up the regular season at home Tuesday in Little Hawkeye Conference play against Norwalk.

The NHS freshman team bounced back from losing the first set to Pella, winning 13-25, 25-23, 15-9.

“Our girls have been doing a really good job of keeping each other motivated and excited to play. They’ve also done a great job of playing together as a team,” said Jennifer Mouchka, Newton freshman volleyball coach. “Tonight, they stayed focused to come back and win the final two sets.”

Kinzie Loree served up five aces in her 10 service attempts for the match. She also had four kills at the net and three digs. Liz McVey had two service aces. Mackenzie Johnson and Kayla Sopher each had one ace serve.

McVey, Addy Blom and Alexis Hoffman each downed one kill. Jordan Banfield had seven set assists and one solo block. Madison Bleeker had two solo blocks. Johnson came up with eight digs while McVey had six digs and Blom had four digs.

Newton’s freshmen play in a tournament at Des Moines Lincoln Saturday.

Newton’s junior varsity squad lost to Pella, 25-15, 25-8.

Hoebelheinrich put down two kills, was credited with seven set assists and had one dig. Natalie Camp had one kill and one ace serve while Lucy Lilienthal had one kill and one block, Adrienne Bergman had one kill and one dig and Bailey Davis had one kill.

Carter Lee made eight digs. Audrey Lucas had two digs and two ace serves. Shipley had one ace serve and one dig.

“It’s just a matter of coming ready to play and wanting to win. We had beaten them earlier in the season at a tournament we just lack consistency, and it’s hard to win games when you’re not consistent,” said Mallory Sturtz, NHS junior varsity coach.

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