Defending Little Hawkeye Conference champion Pella beat Grinnell last night in its LHC and home opener, 25-17, 25-10, 25-17.

The Lady Dutch got out of the blocks slowly, committing a number of service errors to let the underdog Tigers hang around halfway through the first set, 13-13.

That’s when Coach Catie Brand called a timeout to right the ship.

“I definitely got on them a little bit. I said ‘We have to clean this up, we’re not going to play this way. We have to control our game and our emotions.’ And they responded so well. Grinnell only scored four more points in that first set while we scored 12 to close it out.”

The duo of Emily Holterhaus and Natalie Clayberg led Pella’s hitting attack with 18 and 15 kills, respectively. Kara Wichhart dished out 39 assists and both Clayberg and Rebecca Dux had two aces. Defensively, Cecily Johnson dug out 11 balls, while Paighton Bogaards and Jenna Schulty had three blocks apiece.

The Lady Dutch improve to 7-1 and will take a week off before returning to action next Tuesday for the Tulip City rivalry match at Pella Christian.

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