Cardinals finish sixth in Cardinal Invitational

Finishing a 14-match stretch over a week’s span, Newton High’s Cardinals came up short of their goal at Saturday’s NHS Cardinal Invitational. They didn’t win it, but they did equal last year’s placing.

The Cardinals finished sixth for the second straight year, going 2-3 for the day. They ended up with a tough three-set contest against Carlisle in the fifth-place match, losing 24-26, 25-21, 15-11 to the Wildcats.

“I told them we shouldn’t have been in the situation we were in — a set three — against Carslie. We should have taken care of business in the second set, but we didn’t. The girls showed fight. It was 13-11 and they didn’t quit,” Newton head coach Laura Sherratt said.

“We saw good things today and found things we still need to work on. This next week is a bye week and comes at a good time. It is a great week to work on a lot of things and come back to finish the season out strong.”

Sherratt, who coached her first matches of the season Saturday after being gone on maternity leave, said the team had ups and downs during the day. There were a couple of matches which should have gone Newton’s way if the play had been more consistent, Sherratt said.

Class 4A third-ranked Harlan captured its fifth consecutive Cardinal Invitational title. Harlan defeated Class 2A third-ranked Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont, 25-20, 25-22, in the championship match for the second straight year. Pella, which is ranked No. 13 in Class 4A, defeated Boone, 25-18, 25-13 in the third-place match.

Newton, EBF, Boone and Des Moines North were in Pool A. Harlan, Pella, Carlisle and Ottumwa were in Pool B. The top two teams in each pool advance to championship pool matches and the bottom two teams in each pool advance to consolation pool matches.

The Cardinals opened pool play with a 21-7, 21-11 win over Des Moines North. Newton was up 12-7 when Audrey Lucas stepped to the service line. She served out the first set — nine straight points. In the second set, Katylin Ahn had a four-point run at the service line to push Newton to an early lead, and then served the final three points for the win.

Newton faced EBF in its second pool match, losing 21-9, 21-15. The Rockets had a 13-point run in the first set to get to a 15-2 lead, which the Cardinals weren’t able to respond to.

In the second set, Newton had a block by Morgan Allen and kills by Megan Pressgrove and Emily Fitzgerald while Ahn was serving to gain a 6-5 advantage. EBF regained the lead and finally pulled away.

“EBF always has a very, very tough team. They play smart and have good hitters,” Sherratt said. “Our girls did what I asked them to do. They played hard and played well. There were a few blips during the match that contributed to our loss, but overall we played EBF tough.”

One of the matches Sherratt thought got away from the Cardinals was against Boone. Newton won the first set and led early in the second set. Boone battled back to win the match, 19-21, 21-14, 15-10.

The Cardinals faced Ottumwa in the first match of consolation play, winning 25-20, 25-27, 15-9. They rallied from a 13-11 deficit in the first set on serving runs by Ahn and Adrieene Bergman.

Ahn, who served for 39 points in the five matches, had a six-point stint at the line in the second set. Fitzgerald had one kill, and Pressgrove pounded down two kills in that run. It became a back-and-forth set and Newton had a couple of opportunities to win it, but Ottumwa came up with the final two points.

The teams went to a deciding third set. Newton led 10-5 and Ottumwa fought back a bit. Leading 12-9, Taylor Shipley served two points and then the Cardinals won on a defensive point.

Playing against Carlisle, the Cardinals came back from an 18-13 deficit. A kill by Pressgrove returned the serve to Newton, and she served up six straight. Fran Lucas had the service for Newton with it tied 24-all and served up the final two points.

The Wildcats had the advantage throughout the second set. Newton had opportunities to take the lead several times, but wasn’t able to string points together. Carlisle won the second set to force a deciding third set.

It was a point-for-point battle by the Cardinals and Wildcats. It was tied six times including 8-8. Carlisle served two straight, and then scored a defensive point and served up one to lead 12-10.

Newton wasn’t able to protect the serve and came up short.

“A lot of team would have rolled over and quit when it was 13-11, but the girls kept fighting. That’s positive,” Sherratt said. “If we can find a way in every match — no matter who we are playing — to play and win the beginning, the middle and the end of each set, it’s going to be a lot different for us. Wins will come.”

Ahn had seven ace serves in her team-leading 39 points. Shipley served up 26 points and had four aces while Pressgrove and Audrey Lucas each had 18 service points. Audrey Lucas had six aces and Pressgrove four aces.

Fran Lucas served 12 points and had two ace serves. Bergman had nine service points and one ace, and Stephanie Hoebelheinrich had one point.

At the net, Pressgrove delivered 26 kills followed by Ahn with 24 kills. Fitzgerald racked up 16 kills while Allen had 10, Shipley had nine kills, Hoebelheinrich had two kills and Allison Ergenbright had one kill.

Allen put up two solo blocks and six assisted blocks on the day. Pressgrove had three solo blocks and one assisted while Ahn made one solo block and two assisted blocks. Shipley was credited with three assisted blocks, Ergenbright had two assisted blocks and Fitzgerald had one assisted block.

Pressgrove made 43 set assists and Shipley had 39 set assists. Fran Lucas led the team with 39 digs for the tournament and Shipley had 23 digs. Pressgrove had 21 digs followed by Ahn with 19 and Audrey Lucas with 14.

Newton (16-17) is idle until Oct. 13 when it hosts Pella in Little Hawkeye Conference play.

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