Coming off their most successful season yet at 38-6, which saw them finish undefeated in Little Hawkeye Conference play on their way to their first-ever outright title and qualify for their fourth straight Class 3A State Tournament appearance, Pella volleyball is loaded with talent this season and is setting the bar even higher for 2010.

Pella returns 10 seniors this season including All-State players Hali Steenhoek, Lindsay Bentzinger , Kelsi Rempe and Brooke Fessler, who has been named to the High School All-American watch list for this season, as well as other key players like Mackenzie VanderMolen and Kelsey Fynaardt. Head Coach Bob Fessler says the girls put in a lot of hard work over the summer and looked very strong at the Central team camp a couple weeks ago.

He says the Central team camp featured some of the top teams in the state and Pella proved to be one of them. He says they won both pools they were in on day one which put them in the top eight out of 32 teams, then on the second day played 10 different games against some of the best competition in the state and went 7-3 which showed the girls very quickly that they are right with those teams and can accomplish big things this season if they work hard.

He says with 10 seniors, the leadership has been outstanding so far and they are more focused and motivated than they’ve ever been this early on which makes their practices very intense. He says they’ve set some high goals including winning another LHC title, and not just getting back to state for the fifth consecutive year, but ending their losing streak at state and winning a state championship. Pella starts their season August 31st when they host Bondurant and Dallas Center Grimes