Newton falls to rivals Pella, Grinnell in volleyball matchups

The Newton volleyball team started fast and hung with Grinnell for the first part of their opening set on Monday.

But the Tigers used a big run to close out the first game and cruised past the Cardinals 25-12, 25-22, 25-9 during a non-conference contest.

Newton trailed the opening set 8-7 and 15-12, but the Tigers scored the final 10 points to pull away.

The second set was tied at 3-all and Newton led 4-3 before Grinnell scored eight straight to grab control.

The Cardinals closed the gap to 20-17 on an Addie Ratcliff tip kill and an ace by Camryn Klein got Newton to within 21-20. Grinnell scored three of the next four points to win the set and take a 2-0 lead in the match.

Newton struggled in the third set. The Cardinals trailed 7-3, 11-4, 14-5 and 23-8 before falling a few points later.

The Tigers (8-10) are 20-15 against Newton since 2007, and the visitors have posted three straight sweeps.

Morgan Frehse led the Cardinals with nine kills and four digs. Klein added five kills and seven digs, Ratcliff put down six kills and Isabelle Rawlins dished out 21 assists.

Addy Cibula totaled two kills, Faith Roffey chipped in three digs and Quincy Davidson and Sophie Greer each added two digs.

The Cardinals were 43-of-46 in serving with two aces. Rawlins, Roffey and Olivia Bell all finished 7-of-7. Rawlins is 113-of-114 in serving this season.

The Tigers finished 65-of-72 in serves with 13 aces. They also had 14 blocks and a kill efficiency of .397.

Grinnell was led by Maryn Sherman, who had 13 kills, eight digs and three aces. Kendra Nolton added 11 kills and four aces and Kaitlyn Smith posted 10 digs.

Of Grinnell’s 10 losses, eight have come against state-ranked teams.

Pella 3, Newton 0

PELLA — Frehse put down five kills, Bell totaled 10 digs and Newton missed only two serves, but Class 4A No. 2 Pella was too much for the Cardinals.

The Lady Dutch defeated Newton 25-12, 25-8, 25-8 during Little Hawkeye Conference play. It was Pella’s 14th straight win over the Cardinals.

Frehse led Newton with five kills and eight digs, Rawlins chipped 12 assists and five digs and Klein tallied two kills and five digs.

Cibula and Ratcliff each put down two kills and Davidson, Greer and Merissa Schiebel all contributed two digs.

Newton (6-9, 0-4 in the conference) finished 27-of-29 from behind the service line. Rawlins, Frehse and Klein all were 6-of-6.

Katie Scheckel led Pella (21-8, 3-0) with 10 assists, seven kills and six digs and Elah Hiemstra added 14 digs and four aces. The Lady Dutch were 66-of-73 in serves with 17 aces. They also had 10 blocks.

Seven of Pella’s eight losses came against ranked teams. The Lady Dutch have been defeated by 5A No. 1 Waukee Northwest, 5A No. 2 Waukee, 5A No. 6 Dowling Catholic, 5A No. 7 West Des Moines Valley, 3A No. 4 Mid-Prairie and 2A No. 1 Denver.