Cardinals set for solid 2015 season

Youthful veterans bring a strong core to the volleyball court for Newton High’s Cardinals in 2015. The Cardinals do have six seniors, which is four more than they had on the squad a year ago, and three of those seniors saw extensive varsity playing time as juniors.

“We are still a little young when it comes to varsity experience,” Newton second-year head coach Laura Sherratt said. “However, a lot of the girls put in major time and effort this summer. We saw great things at camp including teamwork and effort.”

Sherratt, who is expecting a baby any time now, will rely on new varsity assistant coach Taylor Peska, new junior varsity coach Kristina McNew and freshman coach Michaela Wood. Wood was on Sherratt’s coaching staff last year.

Seniors Fran Lucas, Emily Fitzgerald and Allison Ergenbright lead a squad, which is determined to show it is better than last year’s 7-29 record. Stephanie Hoebelheinrich, Adrienne Bergman and Jessica Smith are the other seniors on the team.

The Cardinals have a solid junior class led by Megan Pressgrove and Morgan Allen. The two juniors and Lucas received Little Hawkeye Conference honors last year. Newton had a tough go in the LHC, 0-6.

Also back on the court for Newton are juniors Taylor Shipley, Courtney Jacobsen and Kaytlin Ahn. Sherratt said she looks for junior Mercedes Samson and sophomore Audrey Lucas to provide depth on the varsity team.

Pressgrove, a 5-foot-11 setter and outside hitter, received Little Hawkeye Conference second-team honors. She earned first-team honors as a freshman. Pressgrove finished eighth in the conference with 171 assists. She led Newton with 121 kills. She also had three solo blocks and 16 block assists at the net.

Pressgrove was a 92 percent server, 178-of-194 attempts, and she had 21 ace serves. She was second on the Cardinal team in digs with 126.

Lucas provides stability on the back row for the Cardinals, returning as the team’s libero. The 5-foot-5 senior received LHC honorable mention honors last year. Lucas was the team leader in digs with 186. She served at a 95 percent clip, going 168-of-177, and had 17 service aces.

Allen, a 5-foot-11 middle hitter, brings power to the middle of the net for Newton. She earned conference honorable mention honors. Allen finished with 51 kills, which was third on the team. She was 45-of-49 serving (92 percent) and had one ace serve. Allen also led the team in blocks with four solos and 22 assists.

Working in the outside hitter spots are Fitzgerald, Shipley, Jacobsen, Ahn, Hoebelheinrich and Bergman. Shipley and Hoebelheinrich are setters as well along with Pressgrove.

Ahn recorded 62 kills, which was second on the team a year ago, and had two solo blocks and five assisted blocks at the net. Ahn was credited with 60 digs. She was a 92 percent server and had 19 ace serves.

Shipley racked up 49 kills and had two blocks at the net. She also was third on the team in set assist with 80. Shipley had 59 digs. She served up seven aces and was a 92 percent server.

Jacobsen had 24 kills, Fitzgerald had 18 kills and Ergenbright had 15 kills. Hoebelheinrich and Bergman saw limited varsity action. Hoebelheinrich did have one kill and one solo block and Bergman had one asset assist.

“We are continuing to implement some of the new defense and offense we learned last year. The girls are getting more comfortable with those,” Sherratt said. “The summer and off-season workouts went extremely well. We had lots of girls putting in good quality time in the gym and weight room.”

Sherratt had the coaching staff of University of Northern Iowa in for a two-day camp over the summer. She said the girls took a lot of good information and hard work away from that camp.

“We’re looking for a lot of growth from an individual level and team level throughout the season,” Sherratt said. “Nothing but great positive things to come for these girls.”

The Cardinals lost 25-14, 25-10, 25-21 to Little Hawkeye foe Oskaloosa in last year’s Class 4A quarterfinals. Dallas Center-Grimes and Pella Christian went 5-1 in LHC play last year followed by Norwalk and Pella at 4-2. Oskaloosa had 2-4 conference mark and Grinnell was 1-5.

Sherratt expects the Little Hawkeye Conference to be very competitive again. She also expects her team to break through to claim conference matches this season. The Cardinals begin conference play at home Sept. 8 against Pella Christian.

Newton opened the 2015 season Tuesday at home in the Newton Invitational. The Cardinals play in the Adel-DeSoto-Minburn tournament Sept. 3.