Photo courtesy of Troy L. Hugen Photography

Competing against their fourth ranked team in seven matches this season, the Class 2A #8 ranked Pella Christian volleyball team was swept in their Little Hawkeye Conference opener by Class 4A #2 Indianola 3-0 Tuesday night.

The Eagles struggled to keep pace with the highly ranked Indians in the first set, falling 25-11. Pella Christian bounced back and led the second set 10-9, but Indianola would go on a run to pull ahead and go up two sets to zero with a 25-20 decision. The Indians seemingly had the match wrapped up in set three, holding leads of 10-3 and 23-16, but the Eagles weren’t done battling. Pella Chrisitian cut the early deficit to 14-12, and then scored seven out of final nine points to make it a 24-23 third set, but couldn’t extend the game further before falling 25-23. Chloe Huisman posted a team high six aces and 12 digs for the Eagles, while Emerson De Vries and Addison Bandstra each recorded two block assists in the loss.

Pella Christian dropped to 2-5 overall on the season and 0-1 in the conference, and they will look to get back on track when they host their first league game against Newton on Tuesday, September 5th.