Newton volleyball blasts Hoover in regional opener

Newton’s volleyball team played in front of its home fans for the final time this season on Tuesday night.

And Kadance Ahn knew hosting a postseason match would be a great opportunity to show the community that the program has a bright future.

With just two seniors in the varsity rotation, most of the players on the floor against Des Moines Hoover could be back next season and the Cardinals’ sweep of the Huskies showed the fans they are improving.

With Ahn leading the way, Newton cruised past Hoover 25-16, 25-4, 25-10 in a Class 4A Region 4 quarterfinal match.

“Winning is fun. Having everyone do their job and taking care of teams like that is fun,” Ahn said. “We wanted to show the community that we have something building here with a young roster. It was nice to get a win on our home floor one last time.

“It shows we are going to be better next year and the future is bright. We have a lot of potential and it’s just going to get better.”

Ahn had a modest first set but was at her best in the final two frames as she finished with a career-best 18 kills in 32 attempts. She also had nine digs and five aces to lead the Cardinals into Thursday’s regional semifinals.

“They came out, took care of business and did what they needed to do for the entire match,” Newton head volleyball coach Heidi Woollums said. “It’s not always easy to beat a team twice in one year but they did what they had to do.”

The opening set was the most competitive, but Newton (7-24) led most of the way. Hoover stayed close early, but the Cardinals turned a 6-all tie into a 14-9 advantage.

That stretch included a block by Aurora Nehring and kills by Emma Rogers and Delaney Woollums.

Ahn got her swing going late in the set and her trio of kills made it 18-12, 19-15 and 22-15. Delaney Woollums finished off the set with a kill of her own.

“If each person does their job, it will make everyone else’s job easier,” Coach Woollums said. “Kadance has a lot of pressure on her, but when the others step up and everyone does their job, she gets to relax and not have so much pressure on her.”

Ahn registered kills on her first two swings in the second set to give the Cardinals an early advantage. Newton led 6-0 and then a long service run by Chloe Swank pushed the margin to 13-2.

The 7-0 run included three aces by Swank, two blasts by Ahn and a kill by Nehring.

Ahn went back to work after that, recording another kill and all five of her aces. The final ace made it 23-3 and the Cardinals went up 2-0 in the match a few points later.

“We’ve played this team before so I had an idea of how they’d play me,” Ahn said. “I had high expectations for myself coming into the night, but I also am confident when I hit the ball no matter who we play.”

In the final set, the Huskies (5-18) got out to a 7-4 lead. But after the two teams drew even at 8-all, the Cardinals scored 17 of the next 19 points to end the match.

During that final stretch, Audrey Rausch served up three aces, Hailey Sumpter had back-to-back aces and Ahn closed out the match with three consecutive kills.

The Cardinals were nearly perfect from behind the service line, finishing 68-of-70. They also had 26 aces.

“Our team has been serving tougher lately,” Coach Woollums said, “We had a lot of aces tonight, but we also didn’t miss very many serves. That helps, too.”

Newton defeated Hoover 21-10, 21-7 in its first match of the season at its home tournament. Some of the personnel from that opener has changed, but the end result stayed the same.

“It’s very important with a young team to come out and play well at home in a postseason game,” Coach Woollums said. “We still have to play the team who is across from us and you don’t always know how a young team will come out.”

Macy Lampe delivered 28 assists and had eight digs for the winners. Swank tallied nine digs and a career-best eight aces, Rausch finished with three digs and five aces and Nehring registered four kills and three digs.

Sumpter served up six aces, Delaney Woollums put down four kills and Rogers had three kills. Emily Wermager chipped in two digs.

Swank was 18-of-18 in serves, while Rausch was 11-of-11, Sumpter served 15-of-16 and Ahn was successful on 13-of-14 serves. Lampe served 7-of-7.

Next up is 4A No. 4 Cedar Rapids Xavier (27-4) in the regional semifinals at 7 p.m. on Thursday in Cedar Rapids.

“We have to play lights out,” Coach Woollums said. “There’s no point in being nervous. We have nothing to lose at all. They have everything to lose. Just go in there, take care of your side and do what you can.”

Notes: The start time for the match was pushed back about 25 minutes after the high school and other parts of town lost power at around 5:30 p.m. Coach Woollums thought her squad handled the delay as well as they could have. “I was concerned at first the power outage might factor into how we started. I even thought we might have to move locations,” Coach Woollums said. “It actually did give the girls some time to do some extra team stuff and goof around a bit. I think it took away some of the nerves.” … Little Hawkeye Conference member Norwalk also won its 4A Region 4 quarterfinal match on Tuesday. The Warriors downed Carlisle in straight sets and will get Winterset in Thursday’s other semifinal.