July 05, 2025

Cardinals fall on Senior Night

By Jocelyn Sheets

A Baker Block — Newton High senior Mackenzie Baker (12) sends the ball right back over the net at Pella Christian with a one-handed block during Tuesday’s Little Hawkeye Conference match. It was Senior Night for Newton but Pella Christian took the match 25-17, 25-14, 22-25, 25-15. (Jocelyn Sheets)

Effort was there but consistency wasn’t on Tuesday night for Newton High’s Cardinals. It was Senior Night but the visiting Pella Christian Eagles netted the victory.

“Tonight we were very inconsistent in our passing and our attacking,” Newton head coach Kim Florke said. “We know if we’re going to be successful, we have to be consistent in all those things.”

Florke said the Cardinals had breakdowns in their serving as well. The Eagles were able to take advantagefor a 25-17, 25-14, 22-25, 25-15 Little Hawkeye Conference win.

“I thought we played pretty well in the third set because we did all those things (passing, attacking and serving) well,” Florke said.

Before the match, Newton recognized its three seniors — Mackenzie Baker, Priscila Amador and Madi Amos — and their parents.

Newton seemed to be playing catch-up throughout the match. The Cardinals had several leads but couldn’t hold those in the first two sets. The score was tied at times, again, Newton wasn’t able to take the lead.

The Eagles had a 7-point serving run to separate from the Cardinals late in Set 1. They used a 5-point service stint to lock up the second-set win.

In the third set, Baker served up three points to put Newton up 4-3. It was 3-point run by Kate Callaghan to give the Cardinals the lead for good at 12-10.

The teams battled with sideout-after sideout. Newton kept Pella Christian at bay to win a force a fourth set.

Pella Christian went into the lead after it was tied 7-7. Despite some pressure from the Cardinals, the Eagles did not give up the lead.

Amos finished with seven kills and three digs. She was 12-of-14 serving with three service aces.

Baker had two kills, one assisted block and one service ace. Amador, who plays libero, had eight digs and was 5-for-5 serving.

Kate Callaghan was credited with 17 set assists and had seven kills. She was 14-of-14 serving with three aces. She also had 14 digs.

Meg Callaghan had five kills and one assisted block. Jerrica McGuire had two kills and two assisted blocks.

Kynnedei Terpstra made four kills, had four digs and one service ace. Nykole Hernadez had six digs and Lainey Hull had one dig.

The Cardinals are 1-5 in LHC play. Newton (9-14) concludes LHC regular-season play Tuesday at Indinaola.

The LHC tournament is Oct. 17 at Pella.

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