State-ranked Pella eliminates Newton volleyball

PELLA — The difference between good and great can sometimes come down to confidence and consistency.

Newton’s volleyball team proved it could play with Class 4A No. 13 Pella on Tuesday. But when it came down to crunch time, the Lady Dutch were just too much.

Pella advanced to the 4A Region 5 semifinals with a 25-19, 25-16, 25-12 home sweep of the Cardinals.

“It’s a little bit of mental toughness and having the confidence. We are still lacking consistency,” Newton volleyball coach Heidi Woollums said. “We were right there and then the points they got were mostly our errors.”

Newton ends its season at 7-22. The Cardinals graduate three seniors, but the setter, Macy Lampe, and libero, Chloe Swank, are both sophomores and the top two hitters, Kadance Ahn and Delaney Woollums, also will return next season.

Coach Woollums feels like her program is close. They trailed Pella 16-15 in each of the first two sets before the Lady Dutch pulled away late to win both games.

“You have to be self-reflective and think about what you can do in the offseason, what you can do next season and what you can do to get over the hump,” Coach Woollums said. “I feel like we are right there. They have shown greatness, but we have to get to where we are playing at that level consistently.”

The Cardinals lost the first set by six points and trailed 6-0 early. Three kills by Ahn closed the gap to 7-5 and Newton used a 6-1 run to go from down 14-9 to even at 15-all.

Three more kills by Ahn kept her team close, but Pella scored three of the final four points to win by six.

“In sets one and two, we fought pretty well and played right with them,” Coach Woollums said. “We lost by six points in the first set and spotted them six points right away.

“If we would have started better, we wouldn’t have been in that hole basically the entire set.”

Another slow start by Newton put the visitors behind 3-1 early in the second set. A kill by Ahn made it 6-4 before a combo block by Ahn and Hailey Sumpter evened the set at 9-all and Ahn put down another kill to make it 10-all.

The set remained even at 12- and 13-all. Delaney Woollums’ kill got Newton within 15-14 and a service error by Pella made it 16-15. But the Lady Dutch outscored the Cardinals 9-1 the rest of the way.

“I still think it comes down to being mentally tough,” Coach Woollums said. “It comes down to wanting the pass, wanting the set and knowing you are going to put the ball down. Because you have that toughness that allows you to not think about shanking a pass, double hitting a set or hitting the ball out of bounds.”

The third set was the least competitive. The Cardinals fell behind 3-0 and only got as close as two after Audrey Rausch’s kill made it 4-2. Pella led by as many as 14 before winning by 13.

“You have to think about that one and be realistic in how you played, but you can’t stay on that one,” Coach Woollums said. “That third set was ugly. We fell apart and didn’t let things go when we should have let things go.

“When you get in a do-or-die situation, you have to let that stuff go. If you don’t fight now, there’s no fight tomorrow.”

Ahn had a double-double in the match with 11 kills and 11 digs. She moved the ball around well and often kept the Lady Dutch guessing.

“Everybody we play knows where the ball is going to go,” Coach Woollums said. “When she’s in that rotation, she gets the ball, but she does a good job powering through everything, getting her feet set and swinging hard through the ball.”

Macy Lampe also registered a double-double with 13 assists and 10 digs. Delaney Woollums tallied seven kills and eight digs, Chloe Swank finished with 11 digs and Emily Wermager collected seven assists and five digs in the final match of her prep volleyball career.

Sumpter had two kills and four digs, Audrey Rausch added three digs and Addison White chipped in two digs.

The Cardinals were 44-of-47 in serves with Ahn and Delaney Woollums each going 9-of-9.

Notes: It also was the final prep match for Rausch and Roxanna Almazan … Pella (19-12) was led by Katie Scheckel’s 28 assists, 10 digs and three aces. Mia Warner tallied a match-high 16 kills and Kyli Hiemstra had 13 digs and three aces. … The Lady Dutch advance to face No. 15 Knoxville (25-12) in the regional semifinals at 7 p.m. on Thursday in Knoxville.