It was a thriller of a match with a state quarterfinals bid on the line at Eagle Lane as the Tulip City Showdown renewed in the regional tennis playoffs Tuesday. It took super tiebreakers in two of the singles matches and the final two active doubles competitions to settle the score between #7 in 1A Pella and #9 in 1A Pella Christian, with the Dutch winning 5-3.

This was just two weeks removed from a regular season showdown that had Pella edge the Eagles 7-4 and also featured four tiebreakers. On Tuesday, the Dutch were able to take a narrow 4-2 advantage after singles, which included Alloree Else battling back from being down in the tiebreak 2-7, winning eight of the next eleven points to tie it at 10-10. She and Claire Vander Molen went back and forth for a couple of points before Alloree was able to finish it off at 14-12. Mallory Westerkamp also won via the tiebreaker. Westerkamp battled back in the first set to win 7-5 and dropped a second set tiebreak. Mallory controlled the match tiebreak, hitting a no-doubter down the line to take a 9-6 lead before outlasting Rachel Lanferman on the last point to take a 7-5, 6-7 (3), 1-0 (6) victory.

In doubles, the Eagles played their final matches with intensity, winning the No. 1 matchup and forcing tiebreakers in two and three. Pella’s duo of Emily Blom and Claire Smock were down to match point twice in their tiebreak, only to battle back and win 13-11. The Dutch and Eagles have played to go to state three seasons in row, with P.C. prevailing in 2021 and Pella in back-to-back seasons. The Dutch take on Davenport Assumption Saturday in the state quarterfinals, and both local teams have representatives heading to the state singles and doubles tournament.