Newton players receive LHC volleyball honors

Newton High’s Megan Pressgrove received Little Hawkeye Conference honors for the third consecutive season. The 5-foot-11 junior setter and outside hitter was named to the second team for the second straight year as the conference coaches announced their 2015 All-Little Hawkeye Conference selections.

Newton’s juniors Kaytlin Ahn and Taylor Shipley were named to the LHC honorable mention list. It is the first year of honors for both Cardinal players.

Pella, which finished second in the conference at 5-1, bowed out of the Class 4A state tournament in the first round Tuesday. Norwalk was the conference champion at 6-0 and Dallas Center-Grimes finished third at 4-2.

Pella Christian and Oskaloosa each posted conference marks of 2-4. Newton, and Grinnell finished with 1-5 LHC records.

That was one more win than the Cardinals had in 2014. Newton doubled its match wins from a year ago. The Cardinals finish the regular season 16-19 overall after going 7-29 with only one senior on the team a year ago.

Named to the All-LHC first team were seniors Makenna Bogaard, middle hitter, Pella; Brooke Caves, libero, Oskaloosa; Selena Nolte, outside hitter, Dallas Center-Grimes; Tori Van Velzen, outside hitter, Norwalk, Andrea Hortsman, outside hitter, Pella Christian; and junior Gabby Ridgeway, outside hitter, Norwalk, all unanimous selections. Also on the first team were freshman Emily Holterhaus, middle hitter, Pella; senior Chelsea Eilers, outside hitter, DCG; and junior Ryley Harris, setter, Norwalk.

Pressgrove and Pella junior Kiki Pingel were named to the second team as setters. Others on the second team were: junior Hallie Rosenboom, libero, DCG; junior Clare Anderson, libero, Norwalk; senior Morgan Taylor, outside hitter, Norwalk; junior Katie Vander Molen, outside hitter, Pella; senior Madison Krumm, outside hitter, Grinnell; junior Alexis Westercamp, middle hitter, Oskaloosa; senior Maria Settimi, outside hitter, Oskaloosa; sophomore Bekah Horstman, outside hitter, Pella Christian.

Pressgrove led the Cardinals with 154 kills and set assists with 237. She made eight solo blocks and 25 assisted blocks at the net. Pressgrove had 69 digs and 35 service aces.

Ahn, a 5-foot-8 outside hitter, delivered 151 kills for Newton. She put up seven solo blocks and 13 block assists. Ahn had 84 digs and 23 service aces.

Shipley was a 5-foot-7 setter and hitter for the Cardinals. She put up 180 set assists and downed 73 kills. She had 12 block assists and 59 digs. Shipley served up 13 aces.

Others on the LHC honorable mention list were: Norwalk-Ashlie Van Gorder and Kiley Westhoff; Pella-Jenna Murphy and Kiara Bradley; Grinnell-Kamryn Juni and Holly DeSerano; DCG-Ally Ferguson and Tatum Jorgenson; Pella Christian-Sydney Faber and Natalie Vos.

All statistics used are unofficial. QuikStats Iowa, a website where teams and conferences file individual and team statistics, is not available at this time because of a techincal issue.

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