Pella could not battle back against the late-charging No. 12 in 4A Dallas Center-Grimes volleyball team, falling in five sets Tuesday night (24-26, 25-19, 25-19, 14-25, 10-15).

The Lady Dutch had one of their strongest serving nights of the season, fueling their 2nd and 3rd set dominance, before their defense at the net and in the backcourt faltered against likely All-State outside Grace Mikota, who led DCG with 31 kills. The Lady Dutch lost the first set after leading by two with set point in their favor, only for the Mustangs to score four in a row. Pella took a 3-0 lead to start the 5th set, but were outscored 15-7 over the final 22 points.

Pella Varsity Coach Mallory Peterson says she was happy to see significant progress on several fronts after last week’s 3-0 loss to Oskaloosa, but still says there needs to be improvement defensively if the team is going to compete with strong offensive attacks in the postseason.

Bailey Van Voorst added 32 kills, and Jasmine Namminga had 13 kills and five blocks. Pella falls to 11-7 and 3-2 in the conference, and returns to action at the Des Moines Christian tournament Saturday morning.