Pella Boys Tennis Edges North Polk at Knoxville Invitational
One day after they clashed head-to-head, the main event of the Knoxville Invitational featured #3 Pella and #5 North Polk, and it was the Dutch winning by tiebreaker in the invitational style tournament Saturday.
Jack Briggs was the singles meet champion, defeating Easton Moon one day after his brother Ethan. Joshua Roozeboom and Cameron Rowe placed 2nd in doubles, falling to Ethan and Vance Rupp of North Polk, and Nile Rozenboom and Brody Ferrell rallied to take 3rd place in the doubles bracket — which gave Pella the tiebreaker edge overall.
Pella hosts Oskaloosa Thursday in their next competition.
Pella Girls Fall in Top Three Soccer Showdown
The Pella girls soccer team wrapped up a gauntlet of a week at home in a state tournament rematch from 2023. The Dutch girls, ranked 3rd in 2A, gave up a header from a corner kick with 11:57 remaining to fall to #2 Waverly-Shell Rock. The 4-2 girls return to conference action Tuesday at Indianola.
Pella Boys Competitive, But Swept at Hoover Invitational
Pella traveled to the new Mediacom Stadium for the Hoover Husky Invitational Saturday morning. The Dutch played the hosts from Hoover in the first game of the day, falling 3-2. The road team started the scoring first after the Huskies handled the ball inside their penalty area, with Teddy Apostolopoulos finishing for the Dutch. Minutes later though, Hoover answered to tie things up. Pella again found the net in the 2nd half after a great pass from Austin Bone to Apostolopoulos, but again the Dutch gave up the equalizer minutes later. The game went right to PKs after regulation and Hoover hit the first four and Pella missed 2 in a row.
In the 2nd match-up, Pella played 4A Des Moines Roosevelt, falling 1-0. Head Coach Mark Solomon called the game “excellent.”
“Roosevelt enjoyed more possession, but found it impossible to break through Pella’s defense,” he said. “It was a great day of soccer. Frustrating for Pella, but also motivating to know of the quality of teams we can play against.”
With less than 10 minutes left, a Roosevelt shot from a deep angle beat the Pella keeper on the far side. Pella falls to 2-5 and will host Indianola Tuesday.
In action Monday:
Pella Girls Golf vs. Knoxville, PCM, and Pleasantville – 4 p.m.
Pella Girls Track and Field at Bondurant-Farrar – 4:30 p.m.
Pella Boys Track and Field at Norwalk – 4:30 p.m.