Wednesday, October 9, 2013
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Volleyball: Cardinals’ shot at LCH title is still intact Continued from Page 1B the net. Also they benefited from several “tape-runners,” when the volleyball caught the top of the net and ran down the tape, dropping on the Newton side. Florke said the Cardinals brought everybody into the net and said “beat us long.” She said her team stopped the volleyball from dropping as much, which allowed the Cardinals to attack. Using the conference-leading hitter Michaela Bleeker early in the second set, the Cardinals got out to a 6-2 lead. They stayed in front for the 25-21 win, which came on a Bailey Beaderstadt kill. Bleeker delivered a team-high 26 kills in the match. And two of those came back-to-back with Amber Karsten on the service line in the third set, Karsten served up her only ace of the night to put the Cardinals up 4-1. Karsten, who went 22-of-23 at the service line with 14 points and four aces overall, had a fivepoint run serving to restore the Cardinal lead after the Tigers gained a 12-13 advantage. Beaderstadt served up three points to push Newton’s lead up a little more, 21-15. The Cardinals won 25-18. “Our team just came together. we always have our heads up and get back at it out there,” Cazett said. “After we noticed they were tipping a lot, I moved forward at middle back and set up closer to the 10foot line. I was able to pick up more tips.” Cazett plays libero — a back-row defensive specialist — for the Cardinals. She had 13 digs in the match. Bleeker also picked up 13 digs and Holly Vander Pol had 12 digs. Newton established a 2-1 lead in the best-of-five match. Grinnell wasn’t folding. The Tigers got a 7-6 lead on three straight service points. Newton set to their go-to hitter, Bleeker, who downed a kill to make it 7-7. Bleeker was serving so Megan Pressgrove set up Jennifer Ventling, not just once but twice, for kills. The Cardinals never trailed after that but did have to fend off the Tigers a couple of times. Bleeker, who served for nine points as she went 16-of-16 at the service line with two aces on the night, had a four-point stint serving to get a 22-15 lead. Vander Pol had a kill and a tip in that run for Newton. Ventling, who had five service points on the night used an ace to get the final point, 25-17. “We played more consistently in the final three sets tonight. Our freshman setter is making some mistakes but that’s going to happen. Megan is im-
Jocelyn Sheets/Daily News Michaela Bleeker passes the volleyball from the back row for Newton in Tuesday’s home match against Grinnell. Bleeker not only leads the team in kills at the net, the senior also is one of the top passes on the Cardinal team. Newton defeated Grinnell in Little Hawkeye Conference play, 3-1.
proving all the time for us,” Florke said. “What I really liked about tonight’s match was all seven hitters really peppered the ball. We were really swinging at it really well.” Pressgrove had a triple-double for the Cardinals. She was credited with 41 set assists plus she had 10 kills and 10 digs. Pressgrove served four points and had one ace serve. Karsten had four set assists. Beaderstadt served 12 points and had one ace serve, and Vander Pol had three service points. At the net, Karsten put down nine kills, followed by six from Ventling and five from Vander Pol. Bleeker made two solo blocks, and Beaderstadt had one solo block. Ventling had a block assist. Karsten had six digs and Ventling had three digs. The Cardinals improved to 20-9 overall — four away from the team-record 24 match wins. Newton has two more conference matches to play. They are a win out of first place in the Little Hawkeye Conference. Pella beat Knoxville 25-20,
25-18, 25-17 Tuesday to go 5-0 in conference play. Oskaloosa upended Dallas Center-Grimes 25-20, 21-25, 25-23, 25-22 and Pella Christian beat Norwalk 25-19, 25-16, 25-15. Dallas Center-Grimes and Knoxville are 3-1, while Grinnell and Pella Christian are 2-3 in LHC action. Oskaloosa is 1-4 and Norwalk dropped to 0-4. Newton travels to Oskaloosa next Tuesday. Newton’s junior varsity volleyball team dropped a 25-14, 25-17 decision to Grinnell. The Cardinal freshman team claimed a 24-26, 26-19, 15-9 win over the Tigers. For the NHS freshmen, Emma Meyer went 14of-14 at the service line with six ace serves plus had five kills at the net. Elizabeth Coyle was 14-of-15 serving with four aces and had four set assists. Morgan Allen delivered 10 kills for the freshmen, and was 7-for-7 in serve receive. Courtney Jacobsen had two service aces. Taylor Shipley was credited with 18 set assists, and Bailey Davis had three kills.
Jocelyn Sheets/Daily News Above, Courtney Jacobsen (11) goes up for a spike at the net for the Newton freshman squad against Grinnell Tuesday night at home. The freshman team won in three sets. At right, Newton’s Fran Lucas (2) makes a save along the line on the back row for the junior varsity Tuesday against Grinnell. The Cardinal junior varsity fell in two sets.
Dodgers move on in National League playoffs LOS ANGELES (AP) — As the celebration raged around them, Sandy Koufax sought out Clayton Kershaw in the hazy mist of the clubhouse for a hug. Koufax, whose blazing fastball dominated baseball in the mid-1960s, removed the protective goggles from his eyes and rested his arms on Kershaw’s broad shoulders. From the franchise’s old left-handed ace to its current young southpaw, a smiling Koufax looked Kershaw in the eyes and bestowed his congratulations. The Dodgers had advanced to their 10th National League championship series with a 4-3 victory over the Atlanta Braves on Monday night. “To get a hug and get a ‘good job’ from a guy like that, from a guy that’s been there, from a guy that’s done this before and was the best at it for a long time is pretty special,” Kershaw said. “He genuinely cares about not only this team but kind of our well-being. He cares about us. That’s awesome.”
The NL West champions open the next round Friday against St. Louis or Pittsburgh. The Cardinals host the wild-card Pirates in a winner-take-all Game 5 on Wednesday. “We’ve moved one step closer,” said Don Mattingly, managing in the playoffs for the first time. Juan Uribe hit a go-ahead, tworun homer in the eighth inning after Kershaw started on short rest for the Dodgers, who reached the NLCS for the first time since 2009. “It was a special night to get to do it here in L.A.,” said Kershaw, his hair slick from the spray of beer and champagne. “We haven’t won anything yet, but it definitely feels good to get to celebrate. You never want to pass those moments up.” Carl Crawford homered his first two times up and the Dodgers won the best-of-five playoff 3-1. “This does not get old. I love the champagne. I love the burning sensation in my eyes,” center fielder Skip
Schumaker said. “A lot of these guys have never experienced the moving on to the next round and I’m happy for them.” Yasiel Puig doubled down the rightfield line leading off the eighth against losing pitcher David Carpenter. The rookie charged into second base and pumped his right fist in the air. Fans were on their feet chanting “Let’s go Dodgers!” when Uribe fouled off two bunt attempts. Then he sent a hanging 2-2 breaking ball into the Dodgers’ bullpen in left field to put them in front for the second time. Uribe knew it was gone as soon as he connected. He dropped his bat and threw both arms in the air at home plate. “This moment today I’ll never forget,” he said. “I think a lot of people feel like that.” Meanwhile, it was the latest October flop for Atlanta, which hasn’t won a postseason series since 2001. During that stretch, the Braves have lost
seven straight playoff series and the 2012 NL wild-card game. “To end the way it did tonight, it’s going to hurt. It’s going to be a long way back,” Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said. “But tip your hat to the Dodgers and congratulate Donnie and his staff. The sad thing is there are no more games, you know?” Brian Wilson pitched a scoreless eighth to get the victory. Kenley Jansen struck out all three batters in the ninth for a save, fanning Justin Upton to end it. That set off a raucous celebration on the field by the Dodgers, who rushed toward the mound in a mob. They tore jerseys off each other in unbridled excitement and doused Uribe with a bright-colored sports drink. “This team has a lot of fun. We don’t think about being the team to beat and all that stuff. We just go out there and play and try to have fun,” Crawford said.