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Pella Christian controlled the net and dominated the tempo of last night’s Class 2-A Volleyball Final in Washington, as the Lady Eagles cruised to a three-game sweep of previously eighth-ranked Mediapolis and will move on to the State Volleyball Tournament. Pella Christian jumped out to a 7-1 lead to open the first game and never looked back from that point, only trailing by one point at during two brief moments of the third and final game. Eagles’ Coach John Evenhouse says the outcome surprised him some.

“The truth of it [is] when we came in, I was telling people that I thought we had about a 40% chance to win because this [Mediapolis] was a fine team,” said Coach Evenhouse after the match. “I didn’t know we were going to play like this. I knew we had the potential and the possibility that we could do it, but I thought it was going to be really tough, so to do this was just really outstanding.”

Pella Christian would win by scores of 25-16, 25-12, and 25-16, as the Bullettes were never able to find a rhythm with their hitters, while the Eagles’ were at the top of their game in every facet.

“We came out with our ‘A’ game, and we knew we’d need it to win tonight, and we definitely did,” said Pella Christian senior Darci Jansen.

Sophomore Jenna Horstman led the team in kills with 11, while teammate Paige Zylstra added nine. Pella Christian also got a big lift from senior Courtney Kroeze, who returned from injury to register a team-high three aces from the service line.
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As the postseason has progressed, Pella Christian’s mental preparation for each match has proved ever more important.

“Before the game, every single time we talked about it, we said ‘We want to go to state,’ said senior Bekah Posthuma. “This is our goal, this is what we’ve worked for all year long, and we really went out and went after that goal tonight.”

The win earns Pella Christian the return trip to the State Tournament that they were seeking, but it’s going to be a rough road for the Lady Eagles in Cedar Rapids. With the new seeding format this year, Pella Christian faces the daunting task of opening the State Tournament against top-seeded Mount Vernon – who is 40-1 this season – next Thursday.