Newton volleyball crowned champions of home tournament

Newton head volleyball coach Heidi Woollums didn’t like how her team finished last year’s Cardinal Early Bird Invitational.

The Cardinals were swept by PCM last fall but moved that matchup to the opening round on Tuesday, and it paid off for the hosts as they won their early home tournament for the sixth time in the past seven seasons.

“Last year we had PCM as the last team we played, and I felt like playing the slower teams first hurt us,” Woollums said. “So we decided to face the toughest team right out of the gate and get to a high level right away.”

Newton and PCM split the first two sets of their match, but the Cardinals pulled away late in the third set to post a 21-16, 13-21, 15-10 victory.

It was the only loss of the day for the Mustangs, who edged conference rival Saydel in three sets and swept Des Moines Hoover.

“That first set against Newton it was a lot of jitters,” PCM head volleyball coach Sarah De Vries said. “It was interesting that we played them first. I don’t think we’ve ever played them first here, but I was OK with it. We wanted to come out and get going right away, too, but we just weren’t quite ready to go. That took some momentum away early.”

Newton (3-0) improved to 13-3 since 2012 against PCM. The Cardinals outscored the Mustangs by two points in the three-set win.

The two teams will face off against each other again on Thursday at the Lynnville-Sully quadrangular.

The Cardinals are 9-0 with nine sweeps since 2017 in their matchups against Saydel and Hoover.

Newton defeated Saydel 21-10, 21-13 in its second matchup before downing Hoover 21-6, 21-3 in its final contest.

PCM swept Hoover 21-6, 21-7 before escaping its matchup with the Eagles 21-12, 23-25, 15-10.

Newton led PCM 4-0 in the opening set of their matchup. The Cardinals extended their lead to 6-3 following back-to-back kills by Morgan Frehse.

Libby Winters’ kill closed PCM’s gap to 7-5, but a Camryn Klein ace pushed the home team’s lead to 9-5.

PCM got within 11-10 following back-to-back aces by Addyson Pederson and a kill from Jorja Teeter. Two kills from Klein swelled the margin to 14-10, and Newton never led by fewer than two the rest of the way.

The Mustangs (2-1) recovered from another slow start in the second set. Frehse put down a kill that helped Newton open the frame with a 4-2 lead, but PCM rallied with six in a row that included a kill and a block from Pederson.

Winters blasted a kill and served up an ace that extended the Mustangs’ margin to 11-5. Newton got within 12-10 before PCM went back in front 15-10 following back-to-back aces from Teeter.

The Cardinals got as close as three down the stretch, but PCM outscored Newton 6-3 in the final nine points.

“I was super happy with how we started,” Woollums said. “We took control right away. We were on our heels a bit in the second game and showed that we have some new talent on the floor that maybe second guessed some things. But we came back and kicked butt in the third game. I was happy with how we responded to the adversity.”

PCM scored the first two points of the third set, but Newton rallied to even the game at 3-all.

The set featured three more ties before the Cardinals ended the match on a 7-1 run. The stretch included a tip from Isabelle Rawlins and a pair of kills from Frehse.

The Mustangs missed eight serves against Newton and three came in the final set.

“We missed quite a few serves. That’s what killed us in the third set,” De Vries said. “It was our own errors. We missed three serves and probably had three hitting errors, too. We didn’t cover two different tips and that stuff adds up in a game to 15.”

Frehse finished with a career-high 12 kills and added five digs. Rawlins dished out 17 assists and put down two kills, Klein totaled three kills, nine digs and two aces and Quincy Davidson collected seven digs.

Sophie Greer contributed five digs, Addy Cibula put down three kills, Faith Roffey finished with four digs and Addie Ratcliff registered two blocks.

The Cardinals finished 45-of-48 in serves with five aces. Roffey was 17-of-17 in serves in her Newton debut, while Rawlins was 7-of-7 in the match and 28-of-28 in the tournament. Roffey was 23-of-23 in Newton’s three matches.

It was the varsity debuts for Klein, Cibula, Davidson, Greer and Ellie DeVries.

“Any time we’re consistent with our serve reception, we are such a good team,” Woollums said. “But when we let our serve receive drop off at all, that’s where we struggle. If we can’t serve receive, it makes it harder to set and that makes it harder for the hitters. Being consistent with serve receive is a big thing for us.”

Winters led PCM with nine kills, 10 digs, two assists and two aces. Teeter added two kills, 10 digs and two aces, Tori Lindsay chipped in 13 assists and two digs and Peyton Lathrum collected two assists, three kills and four digs.

Addi Hudnut contributed seven digs, Pederson put down two kills and served up two aces and Lindsay finished 10-of-10 in serves. The Mustangs were 40-of-48 as a team.

“We have a ton of talent on our team. We just need to find the right chemistry and right connection with our setter,” Coach De Vries said. “Newton is a tough serving team, and that threw us off in the first game.”

Newton served up 10 aces in the win over Saydel. Rawlins had two of those early in the first set as the Cardinals jumped out to a 6-0 lead. A kill by Ratcliff and an ace from Frehse put Newton in front 9-4.

The Eagles (1-2) got within 13-9 later, but the Cardinals outscored Saydel 7-1 down the stretch. Cibula had three kills during the run.

An ace from Rawlins in the second set came at the end of a 9-1 start. Ellie DeVries and Cibula put down back-to-back kills and Frehse scored consecutive aces to swell Newton’s advantage to 14-4.

The Eagles melted their margin to 14-8, but the Cardinals maintained a lead of at least five the rest of the way.

Rawlins led the Cardinals with 16 assists, two digs and four aces. Cibula contributed a career-best seven kills, Emmy Gross had five kills, Frehse served up three aces and Ratcliff totaled two kills.

Newton was 35-of-38 in serves with Rawlins going 12-of-12.

Merissa Schiebel and Olivia Bell both made their varsity debuts in the victory.

Rawlins collected 14 assists and three aces against Hoover. Ellie De Vries led the hitters with four kills, Jazmyn Rivera had three kills and two digs, Frehse collected two kills and four aces and Klein added a career-best eight aces.

The Cardinals were 36-of-40 in serves with 17 aces. Davidson had two of them.

It was the varsity debuts for both Rivera and Emerson Ray.

PCM controlled its match against Hoover (0-3), improving to 7-0 in the series with seven 2-0 sweeps since 2019.

Lindsay totaled 11 assists and four digs in the win, while Hudnut chipped in two assists, seven digs and two aces.

Teeter finished with six kills and two digs, Lathrum put down three kills and served up a career-high eight aces and Winters chipped in three kills and two digs.

Pederson added two kills and Claire Van Wyk registered two digs. The Mustangs were 37-of-40 in serves with 15 aces and Lathrum was 14-of-14 in the win.

PCM is now 26-1 against Saydel since 2012, but the Eagles pushed the Mustangs to three sets after an impressive second set.

PCM broke away from a 5-4 lead in the opening set with a 10-4 run and never trailed by less than five the rest of the way.

The 10-4 run featured back-to-back aces by Winters and blocks by Pederson and Teeter.

Saydel stayed within striking distance for the entirety of the second set. Neither team led by more than two points until PCM went in front 11-8 following a tip by Pederson, a block from Teeter, an ace by Lathrum and stab by Lindsay.

The Eagles rallied to even the set at 13-all, and it stayed close the rest of the way.

A service error by the Mustangs erased their first match point, and a combo block by Teeter and Pederson halted Saydel’s first set point.

Another service miscue doomed PCM at 23-22, but a Teeter kill gave the Mustangs another match point. However, Saydel scored the final three points to force a third set.

PCM used a 5-1 start to grab momentum in the final set. Saydel closed the deficit to 6-4, but Lindsay and Pederson extended the Mustangs’ advantage with back-to-back kills.

Pederson finished off the Eagles with four aces down the stretch. PCM led 10-7 before the Mustang junior closed out the win from behind the service line.

“Saydel has some talented players, and the new coaches are putting them to good use,” Coach De Vries said. “I know we have stuff to work on in the gym so that makes practice easier. It was a decent start to our season.”

Lindsay led the Mustangs with 15 assists, four kills, five digs and three aces. Hudnut had three assists, seven digs and six aces, Winters totaled eight kills, two digs and two aces and Pederson tallied three kills, two blocks and five aces.

Teeter registered three kills, two blocks and four digs, Lathrum added five kills and four digs and Ryan DeVore contributed two digs.

The Mustangs were 51-of-60 in serves with 17 aces in the three-set win.

Teeter missed all of 2024 with an injury and played sparingly as a sophomore.

DeVore made her varsity debut in the loss to Newton and appeared in all three matches. Camden Webb, Seriah Nolin and Carly Wilkerson played for the first time at the varsity level in the win over Hoover.

The Mustangs also will be without senior Lillian Humpal for the entire season. She suffered a season-ending knee injury during the second week of practice after finishing fourth on the team in kills and aces in 2024.

“It’s a disappointment for her being her last season,” Coach De Vries said. “It’s a big loss. She’s tight with a lot of the girls and not having her out there is a big deal. We have to find a way to move past it though.

“Our theme this year is ‘All In.’ Are we all in unless someone gets hurt? Are we all in unless we’re losing? We have to find ways to pull together and still be at our best every single night.”