July 03, 2025

Cardinals finish eighth in LHC tournament

By Jocelyn Sheets

Audrey Lucas, a senior, serves for Newton High’s Cardinals in a home match earlier this season. The Cardinals played in the Little Hawkeye Conference volleyball tournament on Thursday at Norwalk (Jocelyn Sheets)

NORWALK — Newton High’s Cardinals went into the 2017 Little Hawkeye Conference volleyball tournament as the No. 8 seed. They finished eighth in the second annual conference tournament hosted by Norwalk on Thursday.

The tournament had two pools of four teams. Following pool play, the top two teams from each pool moved into the championship bracket the other four teams advanced into the consolation bracket.

Newton was in Pool A with No. 1 seed Indianola, No. 4 seeded Pella Christian and fifth-seeded Grinnell. Pool B included No. 2 seed Dallas Center-Grimes, No. 3 seed Pella, No. 6 seed Oskaloosa and No. 7 seed Norwalk.

The Cardinals lost to Class 5A 11th-ranked Indianola 21-6, 21-9. They dropped a 21-9, 21-10 decision to Grinnell then lost 21-15, 21-7 to Pella Christian.

Indianola and DCG were the LHC regular-season co-champions with 6-1 records. They each won their pools at the tournament with 3-0 marks and played for the tournament championship.

Dallas Center-Grimes, which dropped out of the Class 4A rankings, upended Indianola for the 2017 tournament title, winning 25-15, 25-23. Pella, which is ranked No. 4 in Class 4A, beat Pella Christians 25-17, 25-20 in the third-place match.

Newton took on Oskaloosa in the seventh-place match and lost 25-12, 25-13. Taking the fifth-place match was Norwalk defeating Grinnell 25-20, 27-25.

The Cardinals were 0-7 in regular-season conference play. They have lost 12 straight matches.

Newton (3-25) prepares for Class 4A Region 4 action. The Cardinals play at 7 p.m. on Wednesday at Carlisle.

There were no individual statistics for Newton’s matches in the tournament available by presstime.

Little Hawkeye Conference

2017 Tournament Matchas

Pool A

Indianola def Newton 21-6, 21-9

Indianola def Grinnell 21-9, 21-10

Indianola def Pella Christian 21-13, 21-11

Pella Christian def Grinnell 21-17, 21-16

Pella Christian def Newton 21-15, 21-7

Grinnell def Newton 21-9, 21-10

Pool B

DCG def Norwalk 21-17, 21-13

DCG def Oskaloosa 21-13, 21-16

DCG def Pella 25-23, 21-14

Pella def Oskaloosa 21-16, 21-8

Pella def Norwalk 21-17, 21-12

Norwalk def 21-11, 10-21, 15-11

7th Place Match 

Oskaloosa def Newton 25-12, 25-13

5th Place Match

Norwalk def Grinnell 25-20, 27-25

3rd Place Match

Pella def Pella Christian 25-17, 25-20

1st Place Match

DCG def Indianola 25-15, 25-23.

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