March 28, 2024

Cardinals push Pella on Senior Night

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There was no going gentle into that good night for Newton High’s Cardinals Tuesday night. Despite losing in three sets to Class 4A second-ranked Pella Lady Dutch, the Cardinals waged a sideout, point-for-point match on the NHS Senior Night.

Pella won the Little Hawkeye Conference match 25-13, 25-20, 25-21 to improve to 5-0 in conference action and 19-2 overall. Newton dropped to 0-7 in LHC play and 3-15 overall.

“The girls played tough and hung in it in every set. In the last two, we really gave them a run for their money,” Newton head coach Ashley Carter said. “We have turned a corner with our mental toughness and staying power at the end of these sets. We plan to learn from this game and put in some court time for our upcoming tournament on Saturday.”

The Lady Dutch will be back in Newton to defend its Cardinal Invitational tournament title on Saturday. The Cardinals finished second in the tournament last year. Also in the tournament are Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont, Boone, Grand View Christian, Carlisle, Harlan and Ottumwa.

Prior to the match, Newton honored its nine seniors and their parents. The Cardinal seniors are Alexis Hoffman, Audry Lucas, Rachel Berkland, Harlie Durr, Lucy Lilienthal, Madison Bleeker, Jasmine Bailey, Addy Blom and Carter Lee.

In the opening set, Hoffman served three straight points for Newton including a kill by Lilenthal and an ace serve to wipe out a 6-4 deficit. Unfortunately, the Lady Dutch had a five-point run at the service line to take the lead again.

Newton trailed 13-10, but could not get any closer. Pella netted the 25-13 win of the first set.

A tip by freshman setter Kate Callaghan evened things at 2-all in the second set. Callaghan went back to serve, and her string of four points began with a Lilienthal kill. The Cardinals stayed in front in a back-and-fourth set of sideouts.

Pella pulled even at 14-14. The set was tied six more times before the Lady Dutch had a defensive point followed by serving four consecutive to take the set win, 25-20.

Newton jumped out to a 3-1 lead in the third set and kept battling Pella. There were several long rallies by the teams for points. Newton was up 11-9. Pella had back-to-back four-point serving runs to take a 19-14 lead.

Hoffman had a kill to make it 2015 and Callaghan served a point. It took eight more rotations before the Lady Dutch were able to claim a 25-21 set win and finish the match.

Lilienthal finished with seven kills on the night while Hoffman had five kills. Bleeker and Callaghan each downed four kills. Lucas and Berkland each had two kills.

Bleeker recorded a solo block at the net for Newton. Hoffman and Callaghan had a block assist apiece. Callaghan was credited with 19 set assists and Lucas had two set assists.

Lee, Newton’s libero, put up 15 digs and Lucas had 14 digs. Berkland made 12 digs and Durr had 11 digs. Hoffman made six digs and Callaghan had four digs. Durr had one dig.

Callaghan served up eight points in the match. Hoffman had six points and two ace serves. Lucas served for four points. Berkland had three points and one ace serve, and Durr had one service point.

Pella won the junior varsity match 25-22, 22-25, 16-14.

Newton’s freshmen beat the Pella B team 25-16, 25-19. The freshmen went 43-of-49 serving and racked up 12 ace serves. They had 16 kills, nine set assists and 13 digs as a team.

Tess Brunsmann and Jamie Rogers each had four ace serves for Newton. Riley Davidson had three ace serves and Kayli Greer had one ace serve.

Leading the Cardinal freshman net attack were Davidson with five kills, Greer with four kills and Brunsmann with three kills. Nykole Hernandez had two kills and Harley Fuller had one kill. Brunsmann was credited with five set assists and Davidson had three set assists.

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