Newton volleyball loses lead, falls to Indianola

Newton volleyball coach Kim Florke knows her team is close. The Cardinals continue to show positive signs against the best teams in the Little Hawkeye Conference but can't get over the hump.

Newton won the opening set against Indianola on Tuesday night but dropped the next three as the Indians won the LHC contest 31-33, 25-20, 25-22, 25-10.

"We are so darn close," Florke said. "We get to the top of the fence and then fall back down."

The opening set saw a lot of ups and downs as Newton rallied from a 5-0 hole and turned a 10-6 deficit into an 11-10 lead following kills by seniors Kynnedei Terpstra and Kate Callaghan and a combo block by Kate and senior Meg Callaghan.

From there, Newton built an 18-14 lead and also led 23-20. Indianola rallied to get within 24-23 and then it was back-and-forth in "overtime."

Kills by Brunsmann and Meg Callaghan gave the home team set point, but the Indians drew back to even both times.

The Cardinals fought off set point two different times and then back-to-back kills by Terpstra and Kate Callaghan put Newton up 30-29.

Two straight by Indianola (7-8 overall, 4-2 in conference play) gave the Indians another set point.

Finally, the Cardinals ended the set with three straight points — kills by Terpstra and Kate Callaghan and a block by Kate Callaghan.

"We didn't back down to them, we passed it well and we were aggressive with our hitting (in the first set)," Florke said. "I thought we made smart plays. We played to win instead of not to lose."

Kate Callaghan once again led the Cardinals, finishing one dig shy of a triple-double. She collected 29 assists, 10 kills, five blocks, nine digs and four aces.

In the second set, Newton (12-13, 1-5) fell behind 14-4. Trailing 17-6, Meg Callaghan went on a long service run to close the gap for the Cardinals.

It went from 17-6 to 17-11 and the stretch included two Terpstra kills and a Meg Callaghan ace.

Kate Callaghan also had a strong service run to lower the deficit even more. She took the Cardinals from a 19-12 hole to a 19-16 deficit.

Kate Callaghan had a tip and two aces during the stretch and Terpstra added a kill. Terpstra finished with 10 kills and five digs in the loss.

Newton couldn't get closer than 24-20 the rest of the way partly because of too many service errors. The Cardinals missed 14 serves in the match and five of those came in the second set.

"We missed five serves in the set that we lost by five," Florke said. "That's the difference right there. The serving is a mental thing. Not a physical thing."

Newton led 3-0 in the third set but quickly fell behind 8-5 and then 14-9. Back-to-back kills by Meg Callaghan and a blast by Kate Callaghan brought the Cardinals to within 17-15 and they got it to 20-19 a few points later.

Another service error put the Cardinals down 23-20 and Indianola scored two of the next four to go up 2-1 in the match.

"We passed really well in the first set and then at times in the second and third," Florke said.

The Cardinals were never competitive in the fourth set after Indianola turned a 6-4 lead into a 12-5 advantage.

A 6-0 run pushed the Indians lead to 19-7 and Newton never got closer than 10 the rest of the way.

Meg Callaghan finished with seven kills and five blocks, freshman Kadance Ahn had six kills, nine digs and two blocks and Brunsmann chipped in six kills and five digs.

Senior Katie McConnell had a team-best 12 digs, senior Riley Davidson finished with five digs and senior Kayli Greer added four blocks.

Newton was 72-of-86 in serves on the night, led by Meg Callaghan's 15-of-15. Ahn also was 10-of-11.

The Cardinals will have a week of practice before playing again. They host Class 4A No. 11 Dallas Center-Grimes at 7:15 p.m. next Tuesday.