The Norwalk volleyball team improved to 2-1 in Little Hawkeye Conference play with a 3-0 sweep of Newton on Tuesday night. The Norwalk cross country teams were also in action, competing in the 49th Tom Karpan Invitational at West Des Moines Valley.

Ranked sixth in Class 4A volleyball, the Warriors won a couple of close sets at Newton before finishing strong for a 25-23, 25-22, 25-12 sweep of the Cardinals. Unofficially, Norwalk served 10 aces in the match, including seven by Noelle Sutcliffe. Coach John Fulton tells KNIA-KRLS Sports that the Warriors committed some uncharacteristic hitting errors during the first two sets and couldn’t find a rhythm. Following a solid finish to set two, Fulton says the team got things rolling in set three behind a long serving run by Sutcliffe.

Grace Dehmer led Norwalk with 17 digs in the match, freshman Hadley Michael set 22 assists and Liz Iverson added nine. Kill leaders were Sutcliffe with 12 and Ava Johnson with eight.

The Warriors improved to 11-7 overall and will play in Saturday’s Waukee Invitational starting at 8:30 a.m.

Norwalk harriers place 4th, 6th at Valley

The Warrior boys placed fourth out of seven teams and the girls placed sixth at Tuesday’s Valley cross country meet.

The Norwalk boys ran a junior varsity squad but still scored a 102 and placed five runners in the top 25. Daniel Webster led the Warriors by placing 15th in 17:56. Aksel Beedon came in 19th, followed by AJ Mosqueda in 21st, Sam Buhrow 23rd and Jamison Bice 24th.

The Warrior girls posted a score of 182, paced by Pearl Brown in 33rd place, Brooke Seeley 37th and Lhotse Samuelson 38th.

Team champions on the day were the Valley boys and Ankeny Centennial girls.

Both Norwalk teams will travel to Central College in Pella for Saturday’s Heartland Classic. Racing is scheduled to get underway at 9:00 a.m.