It took five sets and extra points, but the Pella Christian volleyball team was able to pull off the upset conference victory over rival Oskaloosa to extend their winning streak to eight matches Tuesday night.

The Eagles grabbed the win in the opening set 25-21, before dropping sets two and three 15-25 and 21-25. After falling behind 2-1 in the match, Pella Christian responded by playing some of their best volleyball of the season to pull out the 25-22 victory in set four. In an absolute roller coaster of a fifth set, the Eagles did just enough to come away with a 20-18 deciding match win to complete the upset. Eagles Head Coach Tammi Wight said that it was encouraging to see the team’s confidence grow as the match progressed throughout the night.

“Just seeing their confidence kind of go up as the game went on, because it was a five-setter and we’re just strong, we were strong all the way through and that’s exciting. We’re inexperienced and we’re young and to be able to battle it out, come into Oskaloosa and battle and actually pull it out it was just awesome. I’m so proud of my kids.”

Emma Eekhoff had a fantastic night for Pella Christian, delivering five aces on a perfect 25-25 serving in addition to having eight kills, seven digs, two assists and a block. At the net, the Eagles got strong performances from Cara Veenstra, Maggie Heinen, and Addison Bandstra. Veenstra contributed nine kills and two blocks, Heinen had seven kills, 10 digs, two aces, and a block, and Bandstra added seven kills and a block. Defensively, Pella Christian was led by Emri Agre with 23 digs, while Faith Kacmarynski also had 14 digs and two aces. After the match, Eekhoff and Kacmarynski said that it was fun to see all their effort result in a big road win.

Eekhoff: “When we went into the locker room, we were just so filled with joy right now because we fought really, really hard in those last sets and that last set specifically. We really put our all out there and we are really glad that we came out with a win.”

Kacmarynski: “Yeah, it was just so much fun and one of our words is all in and we were definitely all in against Osky.”

The Eagles improved to 14-8 overall and 3-2 in the Little Hawkeye Conference and will to extend their recent winning streak this Saturday at the Greene County Tournament.