Newton volleyball snaps long LHC skid

GRINNELL — Newton junior Kadance Ahn said many of her teammates were relaxed during a marathon third set against Grinnell on Tuesday night.

The Cardinals were in the middle of a long conference losing streak but they didn’t play like it during a set that featured 68 points and 21 ties.

“I felt relaxed. There were a few of us talking the whole time about not feeling any pressure at all,” Ahn said. “At the beginning of the season, I think we would have freaked out and imploded.”

Newton’s volleyball team did not freak out in the final set against the Tigers. The Cardinals did not implode.

Instead, the visitors ended a 19-match losing streak inside Little Hawkeye Conference play with a 25-18, 25-17, 35-33 sweep of Grinnell.

“We are playing some pretty good volleyball right now. I am proud of them,” Newton head volleyball coach Heidi Woollums said. “We are getting in pressure situations and we are not caving in like we would have done earlier this season.”

It was the first conference victory since Newton swept Grinnell on Sept. 1, 2020. The Cardinals lost the next six LHC matches that season, went 0-7 last year and began 2022 with six straight conference defeats.

But, the current crop of Newton players just might have turned a corner. Before the win over Grinnell on Tuesday, the Cardinals took perennial LHC power Dallas Center-Grimes to five sets.

“We were really relaxed. I think knowing we could go that long and play well against DCG gave us some confidence and we know when we play as a team things go well for us,” Newton libero Chloe Swank said.

Things went well for the Cardinals (7-17 overall, 1-6 in the LHC) against Grinnell.

After a slow start in the opening set, Newton rallied to go in front midway through the frame.

The Cardinals called timeout trailing 14-9. That’s when the momentum shifted in Newton’s favor.

The visitors turned the five-point deficit into a 17-15 lead. The run included a pair of kills by Delaney Woollums, a combo block by Macy Lampe and Hailey Sumpter and a service error by Grinnell.

Newton extended its advantage after a Grinnell timeout. The Cardinals scored four of the next five points to grab their largest lead of the set at 21-16. Two more service errors by Grinnell and an ace by Chloe Rorabaugh ended the set.

Serving errors were a common theme in the match. Newton missed just four serves in the three sets, while the Tigers were only 52-of-69.

“It was huge for us. If you look back at our record, if we serve well in matches we usually play well,” Coach Woollums said. “If we serve poorly, we usually play poorly. It’s hard to give free points to teams and come back from that. Grinnell missed a bunch of serves and that helped.”

Grinnell (9-17, 1-6) continued to miss serves in the second set. Five of Newton’s first seven points came directly off missed serves by the Tigers.

Then the Cardinals created a bit of separation when Delaney Woollums put down a kill and served up an ace on back-to-back points. Ahn also had a pair of kills that extended the margin to 11-8.

The Tigers rallied to get within 15-14 a bit later, but another serving error gave the ball back to Newton. An Ahn kill improved the advantage to 18-15 and another Tiger serving error extended the lead to 23-17. The Cardinals won the set two points later.

“It’s a big deal and can be the difference between winning and losing,” Swank said about serving. “When you go seven or eight straight without an error, it helps. When you miss, it brings down the momentum.”

The third set was back and forth and full of intense plays. There were 21 ties and the largest lead for either team was three points.

Newton went from leading 7-5 to trailing 10-7 early in the set but two more service errors by Grinnell kept the Cardinals close.

Trailing 12-9, Newton rolled off five straight points to go in front 14-12. That stretch included a Delaney Woollums ace and an Ahn kill.

There were ties at 14, 16, 18, 20, 22, 23, 24 and 25 as it went to extra points. From that point on, it went back and forth. Kills by Ahn put Newton in front 32-31 and 33-32, but the Cardinals couldn’t close it out until a service error by Grinnell gave Newton its final set point. It won the match one point later as the Tigers couldn’t control the ball on their side of the court.

Ahn registered another double-double. She tallied 19 kills and 14 digs and her kill efficiency was .297.

“It’s a big confidence booster for everyone,” Ahn said about the win. “That will make us feel a little better going into the conference tournament.”

Ahn could sense Grinnell was gaining steam and momentum in the final set and the home crowd was getting louder with every Tiger point. Finishing off their hosts in three sets and finding a way to win that final set was pretty large.

“They were starting to play better, the crowd was getting louder and they were gaining some confidence,” Ahn said. “It was definitely good that we found a way to win that third set.”

Coach Woollums doesn’t think her team could have won that match in three sets or maybe even won the match period back in August and September.

The October Cardinals are playing much better though.

“That last set was back and forth the entire time and we never would have done that earlier this season,” Coach Woollums said. “We have definitely picked up some momentum. They are fighting through the struggles and coming out of it on the other side, and that doesn’t happen earlier this season.

“It was huge to get the sweep. It’s huge going into our conference tournament and it’s huge going into our regional match with Pella. We haven’t won a match like this in three sets in so long. For it to be a conference team and a team that beat Pella, things are building up nicely for us. They should be proud of this win.”

Lampe finished with 17 assists, seven digs and two kills and Delaney Woollums chipped in six kills, five digs and two aces.

Swank collected 15 digs, Emily Wermager dished out seven assists, Sumpter added three digs and Rorabaugh tallied two digs.

Newton didn’t finish with a lot of blocks on the stat sheet, but Sumpter, Rorabaugh, Ahn, Lampe and Audrey Rausch had active hands at the net that most certainly had an effect on Grinnell’s attackers.

“I thought they were getting tentative and the more tentative they get and the more you see that, that’s the more aggressive we have to be,” Coach Woollums said. “We started blocking really well. Even if they weren’t actual blocks, we were getting hands on the balls and their hitters were thinking about it.”

Newton finished 78-of-82 in serves with five aces. Delaney Woollums, Sumpter and Rausch were perfect at 18-of-18, 15-of-15 and 10-of-10, respectively. Lampe served 13-of-14 and Swank was 12-of-13.

The Tigers are now serving at an 85 percent clip as a team after connecting on only 75 percent of their serves against Newton.

“When you get the ball back after a long rally and then give it back up, kind of like I did a few times, it’s a big energy drop,” Ahn said. “When the other team does it, it pushes you to keep the momentum.”

Notes: The Cardinals are serving 92.5 percent as a team with Delaney Woollums (98), Swank (97), Sumpter (94) and Lampe (92.2) all serving at better than 90 percent individually. … Ahn leads the team with 256 kills and 36 aces and ranks second with 184 digs. Delaney Woollums has 114 kills and 113 digs and Swank has registered a team-best 193 digs. … Grinnell was led by Kenzie McClelland’s 12 kills and Kennedy Steward’s 13 digs.