Fourth-ranked DCG spoils Newton volleyball’s Senior Night

Nine Dallas Center-Grimes players stand 5-foot-9 or taller.

That height and the Mustangs’ skillset were too much for the Newton volleyball team on Tuesday, and the Class 4A No. 4 Mustangs dispatched their hosts 25-5, 25-15, 25-13 in a Little Hawkeye Conference matchup.

“We knew the ball was going to come from every direction, and we just had to go after it the best we could,” Newton head volleyball coach Heidi Woollums said.

Dallas Center-Grimes spoiled Newton’s Senior Night with aggressive serving and a quick tempo offense that kept the Cardinal defenders guessing.

Not much went right for Newton in the opening set. The Cardinals trailed 6-0, 10-1 and 14-4 before DCG used a 5-0 run to go up 19-4.

Addie Ratcliff got the Cardinals’ first kill of the set to stop the run, but Mustang libero Anna Jackson closed out the frame with six straight points, including a pair of aces.

“We came out a little flat and a little bit in our heads,” Woollums said. “That seems to happen on Senior Night for whatever reason.

“When our passing breaks down, it’s hard to do much of anything, and that’s what happened in the first and third sets. They’re a good team though.”

DCG opened the second set with six straight points, and Gwen Farley delivered four aces during that stretch.

The Cardinals got back into the set with strong play at the net. Kills by Morgan Frehse, Emmy Gross and Ratcliff and then back-to-back aces by Merissa Schiebel closed the gap to 10-7.

After Newton melted its margin to 12-10, DCG used a 6-0 run to swell the advantage to eight.

Camryn Klein and Gross delivered kills to trim the margin, and Olivia Bell served up an ace down the stretch, but it wasn’t enough.

“We passed the ball so much better, we served more aggressively and worked on getting our sets out more to the antenna to avoid the blockers,” Woollums said. “The idea of when we did pass the ball well, we were able to get kills and when we did get our blocks closed and our hands up, we got some blocks. It’s about being consistent for longer and being able to adjust sooner. They run a quick offense. You have to identify it quickly.”

The Cardinals (10-13, 1-5 in the conference) avoided an early margin in the third set. After falling behind 3-1, Frehse delivered back-to-back kills to tie it, and then a block by Addy Cibula kept it even at 5-all.

DCG broke a 6-all tie with an 8-0 run though. That stretch featured two kills by Ava Smid and three aces from Avery Edgington.

The Cardinals never got closer than seven the rest of the way. Three more aces from Jackson helped push the Mustangs’ surplus to 19-7.

A strong service run from Bell that included an ace helped the Cardinals close to 22-13, but the visitors finished off the first best-of-five sweep in the series since 2021 with three straight points.

Gross and Ratcliff each put down a kill during Bell’s service run. Both seniors totaled four kills in the loss.

“They’re a good serving team, and it kind of just snowballed. One thing led to another,” Woollums said. “We were looking for answers. I trust any one of them to go in and do the job. Faith Roffey came in at every back row position and played well. Quincy Davidson came in and played well at first and then they went right after her the second time. I put her in a tough position.”

Before the match, Newton recognized a group of seven seniors that included Gross, Ratcliff, Bell, Schiebel, Faith Roffey, Sophie Greer and Isabelle Rawlins, who finished with 16 assists and three digs.

Frehse tallied six kills, Klein added two kills and nine digs, Schiebel had three digs and two aces and Bell totaled two digs and two aces. Greer finished with five digs and Roffey contributed three digs.

The Cardinals were 34-of-35 with four aces. Rawlins served 8-of-8 and Bell was 8-of-9.

Newton finished with a kill efficiency of .109. Gross led the way at .400 and she had no hitting errors in her 10 attempts at the net.

Maggie Leifker led the Mustangs with 13 kills and Smid put down 11 kills. Jackson finished with nine digs and four aces and Farley dished out 33 assists and served up six aces.

DCG (24-11, 4-2) had a kill efficiency of .429 and registered 17 aces in the win.

Notes: The Iowa High School Girls Athletic Union released the regional pairings last week. Newton faces Bondurant-Farrar (12-17) in the 4A Region 5 quarterfinals at 7 p.m. on Tuesday in Bondurant. The winner goes to 4A No. 5 Norwalk on Oct. 23. … The Mustangs’ victory was Dallas Center-Grimes head volleyball coach Meg Jackson’s 400th career coaching win.