Newton volleyball drops both matches at road triangular

LIBERTY CENTER — The Newton volleyball team lost to a pair of non-conference opponents on Thursday.

The Cardinals traveled to Southeast Warren High School and suffered straight-set losses to the Warhawks and Gilbert.

Morgan Frehse had 11 kills, and the Cardinals missed just one serve but fell 25-22, 25-18 to Southeast Warren. Gilbert handed Newton a 25-21, 25-23 loss, too.

Isabelle Rawlins totaled 21 assists, five digs and two aces, Frehse contributed six digs and two blocks and Camryn Klein posted nine kills and five digs to lead the Cardinals against the Warhawks.

Olivia Bell tallied five digs, Addie Ratcliff put down three kills and Addy Cibula had two digs.

The Cardinals were 39-of-40 in serves with two aces. Rawlins was 12-of-12, Bell served 9-of-9 and Newton’s kill efficiency was .129.

Southeast Warren, which posted its first win over Newton since 2021, got 14 assists, six kills and five digs from Jessica Lillig and Lexi Clendenen added nine kills and eight digs.

The Class 1A Warhawks (36-6) were 47-of-48 and six different players registered an ace.

Frehse had 10 kills and five digs, Rawlins totaled 19 assists and nine digs and Klein posted seven kills and six digs to lead the way against Gilbert.

Ratcliff chipped in two kills and two blocks, Emmy Gross tallied two kills, Sophie Greer and Merissa Schiebel both totaled three digs and Bell registered two digs.

The Cardinals (10-15) were 43-of-45 in serves with one ace. Frehse served 11-of-11 and Schiebel and Bell was 7-of-7.

Newton had a kill efficiency of .263. Frehse made two hitting errors in 21 attempts and Klein had one error in 16 chances.

Gilbert (17-13) won both of its matches as it handed host Southeast Warren a 25-21, 25-23 loss.

The highlight of the night was Rawlins eclipsing the 2,000 career assists mark. She dished out 990 assists in her first two high school seasons at Anna High School in Texas and compiled more than 1,000 assists at Newton the past two seasons.

Rawlins totaled a career-best 527 assists last season. She has 491 assists this fall with at least one match remaining in her career.

The Cardinals open 4A Region 5 play against Bondurant-Farrar (12-19) at 7 p.m. on Tuesday in Bondurant.