PCM volleyball downs Newton to win Cardinal Early Bird Invitational

The volleyball teams from Newton and PCM have one thing in common. Both squads brought back three starters from last year’s winning campaigns.

There were a lot of new faces on the floor for the Cardinals and Mustangs during the Newton Cardinal Early Bird Volleyball Invitational and PCM’s aggressive play and strong serving were the difference during a two-match sweep on Tuesday.

The two Jasper County programs faced off against each other in the final match of the night and PCM claimed the tournament title following a 21-15, 21-13 victory.

“We needed to start strong, look sharp and get all of those bugs out in the first two matches so that we were ready to go against Newton,” PCM head volleyball coach Sarah De Vries said. “I think they did that in an awesome way.”

The Mustangs, who are coming off their first winning season since 2010, began their season 3-0 for the first time since 2017. That’s also the last time PCM defeated Newton.

The Cardinals were above .500 last season for the first time since 2013. The last time they weren’t 3-0 was 2018.

“We did a great job handling things in the first two matches, but there wasn’t much coming back our way,” Newton head volleyball coach Heidi Woollums said. “We got to the last match and played a team that can play volleyball and you tell them they will swing it better and play faster and we have to be ready go from the start. And we weren’t.”

PCM and Newton had similar outcomes against Saydel and Des Moines Hoover.

The Cardinals opened their night with a 21-6, 21-10 win over Saydel and then moved to 2-0 with a 21-3, 21-3 victory over the Huskies.

PCM downed conference rival Saydel 21-6, 21-11 after opening with a 21-3, 21-8 triumph over Hoover.

“It’s encouraging to start the season off with some wins,” PCM senior Rebecca De Vries said. “I hope we can carry it over into the rest of the season.”

The Mustangs and Cardinals went back-and-forth in their opening set. Delaney Woollums put down a pair of kills to tie the set at 2-all and the game also saw a 3-all tie following a block by Newton’s Addie Ratcliff and a kill by PCM’s Addyson Pederson.

A 5-0 run for PCM put the visitors up 9-4, and Newton played from behind the rest of the way.

The Cardinals (2-1) called timeout with an 11-6 deficit but a block from Tori Lindsay and two more kills from Pederson pushed the advantage to 17-10.

A kill from Morgan Frehse and an ace from Ratcliff trimmed Newton’s margin to 18-14, but that’s as close as the hosts got.

“I did challenge the three returning seniors,” Coach Woollums said. “I do believe for us to have a strong season, Delaney (Woollums), Macy (Lampe) and Chloe (Swank) need to play pretty consistent in their roles. Their play did step up in the second set, but we needed the supporting cast to be there, too.”

The Cardinals led the second set 3-0 and 6-4, but PCM rallied thanks in part to a 6-0 run that featured back-to-back aces by Rebecca De Vries and consecutive kills from Libby Winters and Claire Van Wyk.

Newton rallied to tie the set at 10-all, but a 4-0 run that featured two more kills from Winters put the Mustangs in front for good.

The Cardinals got within 16-13, but PCM (3-0) ended the match with another 5-0 run.

“The difference was they were aggressive on everything,” Coach Woollums said. “From serving, to hitting and to hitting the floor and going after the ball. We looked like we were scared out there for whatever reason. I’m not sure what that was about.

“One thing went right, the next thing went wrong. You take care of one thing and the other thing goes wrong. It fed off itself.”

Delaney Woollums, Macy Lampe and Frehse all had four kills to lead the Cardinals, while Chloe Swank finished with 14 digs.

Lampe added six assists and four digs, Woollums tallied seven digs and Ratcliff registered two digs and two aces.

Isabelle Rawlins finished with eight assists and four digs in her Newton debut.

Ratcliff and Rawlins both served 6-of-6 and Newton was 29-of-30 in serves.

Lindsay led PCM with 13 assists, two kills, five digs and two aces. Winters tallied seven kills and seven digs, Addison Steenhoek chipped in 12 digs and two assists and De Vries registered five kills, five digs and two aces.

Addi Hudnut collected eight digs, Pederson tallied two kills and two blocks, Van Wyk had two kills and two digs and Lillian Humpal totaled two kills.

PCM was 39-of-43 in serves with five aces. De Vries served 13-of-13.

“That’s an awesome way to be an aggressive team,” said Coach De Vries about their team’s serving. “We wanted to push them back and push them back and then serve them short. On the deep serves, Newton had trouble getting the ball to the net for a good attack. That helped us a lot.”

The Cardinals jumped out to a 9-1 lead in their opening set against Saydel (1-2).

Back-to-back kills from Frehse made it 11-2 and a 7-0 run helped Newton go in front in the match. Lampe and Woollums each had multiple kills down the stretch.

A long service run that featured multiple aces from Lampe helped Newton start 5-0 in the second set. Back-to-back kills from Lola Rivera pushed the margin to 8-2 and Woollums recorded a kill and an ace to extend the advantage to 10-3.

The Eagles never got closer than that the rest of the way.

Lampe led the Cardinals with five kills, five assists, five aces and three digs. Her kill efficiency was .714.

Delaney Woollums added seven kills, five digs and two aces and her kill efficiency was .700.

Rawlins finished with seven assists, two kills and two digs, Swank collected eight digs and Addison Hook chipped in five assists and two digs.

Frehse put down three kills, Rivera had two kills and the Cardinals finished with a kill efficiency of .459.

Newton served up 10 aces and was 39-of-43 in serves. Rawlins was 6-of-6.

Against Hoover (0-3), the Cardinals finished with 15 aces and registered a kill efficiency of .593.

They were 38-of-41 in serves with Swank going 8-of-8, Rawlins finishing 6-of-6 with five aces and Sloan Brodersen serving 10-of-11 with six aces.

Lampe led the Cardinals with seven assists, two kills and two digs, Rawlins chipped in seven assists and two digs and Emersyn Gross had three kills and three digs.

Delaney Woollums put down four kills, Ratcliff and Brooklyn Sterling each collected two kills and two digs and Swank pitched in three digs. Hook dished out two assists, Rivera put down two kills and Lainey Vander Schel added two digs.

PCM had little trouble with Saydel in its first match against the Eagles this season.

The Mustangs used a 7-0 run to take an early 8-1 lead in the opening set. That stretch featured two aces by Humpal.

The margin grew to 12-2, 13-3 and 14-4 before back-to-back aces by Winters pushed the advantage to 19-5.

“I think we are meshing really well,” Rebecca De Vries said. “We are playing with new girls this year, but I think our dynamic is working well.”

Saydel led the second set 3-0 before back-to-back aces from Humpal tied the game at 3-all.

Three straight PCM points gave it a 7-4 advantage and another 3-0 run extended the margin to 13-7. That spurt ended with consecutive aces from Winters.

An ace and a kill from Pederson pushed the lead to 15-9 and started another 5-0 run. The match ended with a Rebecca De Vries kill.

Humpal led the Mustangs with two kills and six aces. Lindsay dished out nine assists, Winters chipped in three kills, two digs and three aces and De Vries tallied two kills and two blocks.

The Mustangs were 31-of-39 in serves with 11 aces. Their kill efficiency was .231. Humpal served 15-of-16 and Winters had a kill efficiency of .500.

Against Hoover, Lindsay registered 10 assists and four aces, Pederson chipped in two kills and six aces and Humpal had three kills and five aces. De Vries put down three kills and Winters served two aces.

The Mustangs were 40-of-42 in serves with 19 aces and had a kill efficiency of .250. Pederson was 11-of-11 in serves, while Lindsay and Humpal both served 10-of-10.

Newton and PCM will face off against each other again on Thursday at the Lynnville-Sully tournament.

“The good news is we come back right away Thursday and will play similar kind of teams,” Coach Woollums said. “And we get another shot at PCM, too. This is not a season definer by any means. Is it one we thought we should have had? Absolutely.”

While three starters returned for PCM, only Steenhoek is back in her previous position of libero. Lindsay moved to setter from a hitter position last season and De Vries is no longer just a middle hitter.

“I think having those core three playing all the way around has helped lead the other girls,” Coach De Vries said. “They help and give those younger girls confidence. They have been encouraging to them so far.”

Notes : Lampe, Woollums and Swank started all 29 matches last season for Newton. The trio also started every match they played in in 2022. ... Coach Woollums didn’t know what to expect from a new-look Mustangs’ squad. But admitted they could have brought confidence into the fall after advancing to state in softball this past summer. “I think when you have success and win, you do have a different mentality,” Coach Woollums said. “It probably does help that they have kids who just played in the state softball tournament. I imagine they built some confidence in themselves. Give credit where credit is due. They were aggressive on everything they did.” ... Coach De Vries would like a smoother transition from offense to defense. Rebecca De Vries thinks the squad needs to cover blockers better and have a little better serve receive. “I feel like we are scrambling some when we shouldn’t be scrambling,” Coach De Vries said. “We ran into each other more than I’d like to see. It didn’t happen often, but tweaking those little things will make us even more powerful.” ... Hoover’s assistant volleyball coach is PCM alum Brad Grier