March 29, 2024

Cardinal volleyball claims fifth at Nevada Invite

NEVADA — In a tough Nevada Invitational volleyball tournament Saturday, Newton High’s Cardinals played some of their best volleyball this season, according to NHS assistant coach Taylor Peska.

The Cardinals went 3-2 and finished fifth out of 12 teams in the tournament. Their two losses came against Class 3A No. 3 Nevada and Class 4A No. 10 Carroll.

“The girls played hard this tournament. We started out against Nevada, which is a tough team and very strong at the net, in pool play,” Peska said. “In consolation, the Carroll loss was tough because we had some great moments but lost the first set. The second set was a fight for each point.”

In Pool A, the Cardinals dropped a 21-7, 21-12 decision to Nevada. They bounced back to defeated West Marshall 21-13, 21-10 and Carlisle 21-16, 21-17 to end pool action.

“The girls’ passes improved, and their overall play as a team was much better following the Nevada match,” Peska said.

Newton went into consolation bracket play and lost to Carroll 25-20, 27-25. Again, the Cardinals regrouped and recorded a 25-21, 25-19 win over Ballard to end the tournament.

“The girls were communicating and playing as a team. It was a fun match to watch,” Peska said of the Ballard match. “We are ready for our tournament at Roland-Story Monday.”

Nevada won its tournament with a 25-20, 25-22 win over Dallas Center-Grimes in the championship match.

Newton was 140-for-157 serving in its five matches in the tournament.

Against Nevada, Emily Fitzgerald and Allison Ergenbright each had two kills while Megan Pressgrove and Kaytlin Ahn had one kill apiece. Pressgrove and Taylor Shipley each had three set assists. Fran Lucas and Audrey Lucas had four digs apiece. Audrey Lucas recorded two ace serves.

In the West Marshall match, Ahn led the net attack with six kills followed by two kills each from Fitzgerald and Pressgrove. Downing one kill each were Shipley, Fran Lucas, Ergenbright, Morgan Allen, Stephanie Hoebelheinrich and Audrey Lucas.

Pressgrove put up eight set assists, and Shipley had six set assists. Fitzgerald had one solo block at the net. Fran Lucas came up with nine digs and Ahn had six digs. Pressgrove had four serving aces. Serving up an ace apiece were Ahn, Fran Lucas and Audrey Lucas.

Ahn delivered six kills and three digs against Carlisle. Shipley, Fitzgerald and Pressgrove each had four kills. Pressgrove put up eight set assists and Shipley had seven set assists.

Allen made a solo block and had three assisted blocks. Fitzgerald had two assisted blocks and Shipley had one assisted block.

Fran Lucas had 10 digs. Adrienne Bergman served two aces as the team was 28-of-31 at the service line against Carlisle.

The Cardinals got seven kills and 10 set assists from Shipley against Carroll. She also had four digs. Pressgrove had five kills, seven set assists, four digs and three assisted blocks. Ahn downed four kills and had eight set assists.

Fitzgerald downed two kills while Allen had one kills, one solo block and two assisted blocks at the net. Ergenbright made one block assist. Fran Lucas had seven digs. Ahn served four aces while Pressgrove and Audrey Lucas each had one ace serve.

Powering the net game against Ballard were Ahn with eight kills and Pressgrove with seven kills. Shipley added three kills while Fitzgerald had two kills. Allen had two assisted blocks and one kill at the net and Ergenbright made a solo block and a kill. Pressgrove had a solo block and two assisted blocks.

Shipley put up 11 set assists and Pressgrove had 10 set assists. Fran Lucas was credited with 13 digs followed by Ahn with six digs and Audrey Lucas with five digs. Ahn served up two aces while Pressgrove, Fran Lucas and Audrey Lucas each had one ace serve.

Newton (11-13) is on the road Monday in the Roland-Story Invitational at Story City.

Contact Jocelyn Sheets at
641-792-3121 ext. 6535
or jsheets@newtondailynews.com