Cardinals drop Senior Night match

Brittney McConnell stood alone with her parents for the 2018 Senior Night for Newton High’s volleyball team on Tuesday. McConnell was the Cardinals’ only senior this season.

Unfortunately, the Class 5A 12th-ranked Indianola Indians spoiled Senior Night for the Cardinals. The Indians netted a 25-11, 25-13-25-18 win in Little Hawkeye Conference play.

McConnell served up two points in the second set to tie the score at 5-5 but Indianola was able to sideout to stay on top.

She gave the Cardinals their second lead in a set for the night with a kill to open the third set. Junior Kamryn Arguello pushed the Newton lead to 3-1 with two straight service points.

Newton led 4-3 then the Indians rattled off six consecutive points from the service line. The Indians, who finished 7-0 atop the LHC, pushed to an 19-9 lead in the third set.

Arguello was at the service line again and got one in. Another point was scored on a kill by sophomore Kate Callaghan.

Down 2-0 in sets and 23-15 in the third set, the Cardinals staged a bit of a rally. It started on a kill by sophomore Meg Callaghan to get possession of the serve.

Kate Callaghan served up three straight points including an ace to pull Newton to within 23-18. The Indians downed a kill and served match point.

In the first set, the Indians (25-13) opened with a four-point serving run. They were up 7-2 and had a seven-point run to push their advantage to 14-3.

Newton scored just two points off serves — one by junior Madi Amos and one by McConnell. It lost 25-11.

The Cardinals made it 1-1 on a sideout to start the second set. Sophomore Jerrica McGurie was serving and Meg Callahan’s kill put the Cardinals up 2-1.

Indianola tied it a 2-2 with a sideout and tacked on three serving points. McConnell got it to 5-5 then the Indians kept the lead from that point on for the 25-13 win.

McConnell led the Cardinals with five service points in the match. Arguello served four points and Kate Callaghan had three points and two ace serves. Amos, McGuire and Meg Callaghan each served for one point.

Meg Callaghan and Kate Callaghan each had seven kills for the night. Arguello had three kills and Amos had two kills.

McConnell and McGuire each had one kill. McGuire had a solo block at the net. Sophomore Tess Brunsmann was credited with five set assists.

Kate Callaghan came up with eight digs while Amso had six digs. Sophomore Nykole Hernandez made five digs.

McConnell had three digs while McGuire and junior Priscila Amador each had two digs. Meg Callaghan had one dig.

The Cardinals finished 0-7 in regular-season LHC play for the second straight season. Newton is 1-20 in conference volleyball action the past three season.

Newton beat Grinnell 25-23, 25-22, 25-23 on Sept. 13, 2016 as its last regular-season conference win. It beat Grinnell again on Oct. 13, 2016 in the inaugural LHC tournament.

The Cardinals are 1-8 in LHC tournament play the past two seasons. They head to the 2018 Little Hawkeye Conference tournament on Thursday at Oskaloosa.

Tournament pools and pairings will be available Wednesday.

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