Pella was the victor in a close Tulip City volleyball showdown Tuesday, overcoming a late deficit in the 4th set to ultimately win against Pella Christian 3-2 (25-22, 22-25, 28-30, 25-21, 15-11).
The margin between the two crosstown rivals never got too far past four points in any of the five sets as the teams traded back and forth throughout. The Eagles won a long 3rd set despite facing the final point defensively on three different occasions, and took a decent lead in the 4th before the Dutch found their stride and rallied back to force a 5th. Pella built up a six-point advantage in the win-or-lose scenario and ultimately held on.
Pella was able to overcome 36 hitting errors. The Dutch were paced by 14 kills from Katie Scheckel and eight from Brooke Schulte; Scheckel added five aces and Hunter Hughell had four service aces. Annika Van Dyke led the Eagles in kills with 16, Chloe Huisman had 39 assists, and Faith Kacmarynski served a perfect game with 27 serves.
The Dutch are now 9-5 overall and 1-1 in the Little Hawkeye Conference; the Eagles fell to 3-7 and 0-2 in league play. Pella heads to Ballard on Saturday for a tournament, and Pella Christian will compete in a quadrangular at Des Moines Christian Thursday.