The #6 sports moment from Pella Christian high school this past school year saw a pair of seniors make a run to the Class 1A Championship Doubles Match of the Individual Girls State Tennis Tournament.

After winning the Individual State Qualifier as the three seed, seniors Katy Roose and Sydney Van Arendonk entered the state tournament unranked on May 26th in Waterloo. Competing at Byrnes Park Tennis Center, the duo opened the tournament against Rachel Hollen and Isabella Nelson from Columbus Catholic and earned a 6-2, 6-3 win in the first round. In the second round, Roose and Van Arendonk took down Decorah’s Haley Gossman and Annalise Skrade 7-6, 6-4 to advance to the semifinals on May 27th. 

After falling to Oskaloosa’s Presley Blommers and Lucy Roach during the regular season, the Eagles’ senior evened the score with a 7-5, 6-3 victory to advance to the Championship. The magical run for the unseeded Eagles seniors would unfortunately come up short of winning a State Title, as they fell to Assumption’s Ella DiIulio and Helen Sons 6-2, 6-2. Despite coming up just short of winning the championship, Roose said it was great to represent Pella Christian and the entire Pella community in Waterloo.

“Yeah, I think it’s a little bittersweet. It’s the ending of our high school career. But yeah, it was definitely a great finish and I think it was just such a good opportunity to just serve our Lord in that way and represent our school and our community.”

Roose will study recreational therapy and nonprofit leadership at the University of Northern Iowa this fall, while Van Arendonk will attend the University of Iowa to study Health and Human Physiology.