June 17, 2024

Class 4A No. 7 Indianola sweeps host Cardinals in LHC matchup

Kadance Ahn leads Newton with 10 kills and eight digs

By Troy Hyde

Newton junior Hailey Sumpter (12) sends the ball to Indianola during a Little Hawkeye Conference matchup with the Class 4A No. 7 Indians on Tuesday. Indianola won the match in three sets. (Troy Hyde/Newton News)

Indianola is one of the best volleyball teams in Class 4A. The Indians have just four losses in 25 matches this season and three of them came against a trio of 5A ranked squads.

Still, Newton head volleyball coach Heidi Woollums expects her squad to control what they can control and take care of their side of the court.

That didn’t happen on Tuesday during a Little Hawkeye Conference home matchup with 4A No. 7 Indianola and the Indians left town with a 25-15, 25-14, 25-11 sweep of the Cardinals.

“Our conference is super tough, but we still have to take care of our jobs on our side of the court,” Woollums said.

Newton juniors Chloe Rorabaugh (2) and Kadance Ahn (8) converge for the block attempt at the net against Indianola's Kailey Peters during a Little Hawkeye Conference matchup on Tuesday. Ahn led Newton with 10 kills and eight digs. (Troy Hyde/Newton News)

The Cardinals remained winless in the LHC, while Indianola improved to 4-1. The Indians’ conference loss came in five sets to Dallas Center-Grimes, which dropped out of the rankings last week.

Kadance Ahn led the Cardinals (4-13 overall, 0-5 in the LHC) with 10 kills and eight digs. Macy Lampe added eight assists, two kills and six digs, Chloe Swank chipped in eight digs and two aces and Delaney Woollums finished with two kills and six digs.

Chloe Rorabaugh tallied four digs, Audrey Rausch registered two digs and Emily Wermager dished out three assists.

The Cardinals were 40-of-41 in serves with Swank serving 9-of-9, Ahn finishing 7-of-7 and Delaney Woollums hitting 6-of-6.

Indianola (21-4, 4-1) had a 51-14 advantage in kills and six Indians tallied at least four.

Aspen Nelsen led the way with 16 kills and eight digs and Tori Runyan added 39 assists and five kills. The Indians served up nine aces.

Newton returns home to play Gilbert on Thursday and then hosts its second tournament on Saturday. Coach Woollums hopes her squad can find the win column.

“We can get some wins this week, but we have to come out with some fire,” Coach Woollums said. “We have to be aggressive and we have to be willing to hit the floor.”