Newton volleyball splits four matches at home tournament

The Newton volleyball team went 2-2 at its home tournament on Saturday. But only one result disappointed Cardinal head coach Heidi Woollums.

The Cardinals opened their day with a three-set win over Class 3A Davis County and ended it with a competitive loss to 4A Knoxville. In between was an impressive victory over 2A Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont and a disappointing loss to 4A Boone.

“With the exclusion of our match with Boone, we played really good volleyball today,” Woollums said.

Newton started slow, dropping its first set of the day to Davis County. But the Cardinals rallied for a 13-21, 21-14, 15-4 victory. Their win over EBF was 21-6, 21-16.

Newton played Knoxville point-for-point throughout much of the Panthers’ 21-19, 21-18 win. But Boone’s 23-21, 21-14 win was the one Woollums wants back.

“I rank that one up there with the match against Grinnell,” Woollums said. “Not sure what team that was. (Boone) was trying to give it to us, and we didn’t take advantage of it. That’s the only one that bothered me.”

The Toreadors four missed serves early in the first set. After kills by Morgan Frehse and Addy Cibula and a Camryn Klein ace put the Cardinals in front 5-1, those missed serves allowed Newton to lead 8-4, 8-6 and 11-10.

But Boone rallied with three straight to move in front 15-13. Frehse kept the Cardinals within two after two separate kills and then put the hosts in front 17-16 with another blast.

Newton forced Boone into a timeout after going up 20-17, but the Toreadors (8-11) rolled off three straight to tie it. The set also was tied at 21-all before Boone scored two straight to steal the opening set.

Boone led the second set 3-1 and then turned a 5-all tie into a four-point advantage after a 4-0 run. Another 3-0 run pushed the Toreadors in front 12-6, and Newton couldn’t get closer than five the rest of the way.

Two kills and a block from Addie Ratcliff and an ace by Merissa Schiebel closed Newton’s deficit to 20-14, but Boone won the match on the next point.

Frehse led the Cardinals (9-11) with five kills, six digs and two aces. Rawlins posted 14 assists and seven digs, Klein totaled four kills and four digs, Ratcliff chipped in four kills and two blocks and Sophie Greer contributed seven digs.

Schiebel tallied four digs, Olivia Bell added two digs and Emmy Gross put down two kills. Newton’s kill efficiency was .125.

The Cardinals were 34-of-36 in serves with four aces. Klein was 7-of-7 in serves.

Newton came into the match winners of three of the past four matches against Boone, but the Toreadors improved to 10-6 in the series since 2008.

The Cardinals overcame a slow start against Davis County, but the Mustangs punched back.

The visitors led 5-1 before Newton rallied to tie the set at 8-all. But Davis County used a pair of 5-0 runs to take the lead for good and win the set by eight.

Two kills and an ace by Frehse early in the second set put Newton in front 6-4. The advantage stayed around two until a 5-2 run by the Cardinals forced the Mustangs into a timeout at 13-8.

An ace by Frehse pushed the advantage to 18-11, a tip kill by Ratcliff kept the surplus at seven and Klein’s kill made it 20-14 before the hosts won it a point later.

The final set was all Newton. The Cardinals broke a 2-all tie with a 13-2 run that ended the match. The stretch included a kill by Ratcliff and an ace by Frehse.

“It took us a little bit to get started in that first one,” Woollums said. “You can usually tell if we’re focused or not, and I didn’t feel like we were that focused going into that one.

“Once we gained that focus, our passes were better and we took care of the things we weren’t doing well in that first set. The outcomes were then completely different.”

Frehse highlighted the win with six kills, four digs and three aces. Rawlins totaled 18 assists and five digs, Cibula and Ratcliff put down five kills and Klein chipped in three kills and three digs.

Bell contributed five digs, Schiebel added two digs, and the Cardinals were 45-of-48 in serves with four aces. Frehse served 15-of-16, Bell was 9-of-9 and Rawlins was 8-of-9.

Newton’s kill efficiency was .298, led by Cibula and Ratcliff’s .500 on their five kills.

It was the Cardinals’ third straight win over Davis County (6-21), and the team’s first three-set win in the series.

Newton started fast against EBF. The Cardinals used a 6-0 run to go up 8-2 and then eight straight points pushed the margin to 16-3. Those spurts included a pair of aces and two kills from Frehse, kills by Cibula and Ratcliff and an ace by Bell.

EBF (10-14) melted its margin to 10 two different times, but Greer ended the set with an ace.

The second set was much more competitive. Newton led 4-1, but the Rockets closed to 6-5, and the set was eventually tied at 9-all.

Klein started a 5-0 run with a kill and ended it with an ace and then back-to-back kills by Frehse extended the margin to 17-10.

The Rockets, who came into the match winners of four of the past five against Newton, got within five three different times, but Ratcliff ended the match with another kill.

“We had to learn from that Boone loss, let it go and move on real quick, and they did that,” Woollums said. “I was happy with how they came out in that one. Our lights were on in the first match, were completely out in the second match and then they came back on in the third set. We played well against EBF, which is historically a good team. I know they are missing the twin towers, but they’re scrappy and they beat Boone in two.”

Rawlins had 21 assists and five digs and Frehse contributed eight kills, three digs and two aces to lead the Cardinals.

Klein posted five kills, five digs and two aces, Ratcliff had five kills and two blocks, Cibula chipped in two kills and two blocks and Ellie DeVries put down two kills.

Greer and Schiebel both totaled six digs, Bell added three digs and the Cardinals were 35-of-40 in serves with six aces.

Frehse served 11-of-11 and had a kill efficiency of .438. Klein’s kill efficiency was .384, Ratcliff posted a .333 and Newton’s team efficiency was .383.

Neither Newton nor Knoxville (21-7) grabbed a lead of more than three in their opening set. The Cardinals led 5-2 but trailed 12-10, 15-13, 16-14 and 20-17.

The game was tied at 17-all, but Knoxville scored four of the final six points to edge the Cardinals.

The second set was pretty similar to the first. There were ties at 2, 4, 6 and 7 before Knoxville grabbed a lead for good.

A Frehse kill closed the Panthers’ gap to 11-10, but that’s the closest the Cardinals got the rest of the way.

A 6-2 Knoxville run pushed its lead to 17-12, and the Panthers extended their advantage to six before the Cardinals got within 20-18 before Jordyn Counts ended the match.

“We competed right with them and the sets could have gone either direction,” Woollums said. “We knew they were going to be tough to beat. We were just hoping both of us were 3-0 going into that last match.”

Rawlins led the Cardinals with 18 assists, seven digs and two blocks and Frehse totaled 10 kills and six digs.

Klein posted seven kills and six digs, Gross chipped in two kills and four blocks, Bell contributed five digs, Greer and Schiebel each tallied three digs and Newton was 35-of-38 in serves with three aces.

The Cardinals had a kill efficiency of .283 with Frehse posting a .444. Rawlins was 8-of-8 in serves and Newton finished with 10 blocks.

The Panthers won all four of their matches in the tournament in straight sets. Knoxville has won eight straight against Newton but is only 14-12 in the series since 2008.