Tulip City rivals clashed in a close, five-set battle on Eagle Lane Tuesday night.
It was the No. 4 in 4A Lady Dutch that edged out No. 10 in 2A Pella Christian (25-20, 15-20, 25-18, 23-25, 15-9).
Both teams traded victories throughout the matchup, with one side of the floor producing all of the winners. After four sets, both teams scored 88 points, but Pella was able to rally off the first four points of the fifth behind the serving of Natalie Clayberg to ultimately take the match.
Lady Dutch Head Coach Catie Brand says she was impressed with her team’s ability to grow throughout the match and how they responded to a loud environment and numerous Eagles rallies, especially in the clinching set.
“Our girls really wanted it, and it was great to see that after finishing set four 23-25, they came out fired up and ready, and that was awesome–that’s exactly what we needed the response to be, and they played like it,” she says.
Eagles coach John Evenhouse never likes to lose, but was happy to see his team go toe-to-toe with one of the best in class 4A. He says that there were several highlights from his club against a top-tier opponent.
“Danielle Vande Voort went out there and really blocked the ball well. Bekah Horstman did a good job hitting the ball, even though she had a couple of errors. We have to develop some more of our hitters to hit around the blocks, as we thought Pella did a really nice job blocking the ball tonight. And Makenna (Van Dyke) came in, she’s our serving specialist, and she gave us a six-point run in that second game to lead us to that win.”
Pella was led by 25 kills from Emily Holterhaus and the Eagles Bekah Horstman tallied 16. Natalie Clayberg racked up five service aces and P.C.’s Emma Huisman had four of her own.
The Lady Dutch improve to 8-1 and the Eagles fall to 3-4. Both head to tournaments on Saturday, when Pella heads to Southeast Polk and Pella Christian travels to Iowa City West.
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