It came down to the final set possible and several individual comebacks, but the Pella girls tennis team pulled off a remarkable finish to the 2024 season Wednesday as they claimed the Class 1A state tennis championship in Waterloo.

While competitive in most matches, the morning felt like a breeze when Pella knocked off Spencer 5-0 before their dual with Xavier took them to a 5-4 score and a late rally in the final match played in the girls high school tennis season.

The highlight came in No. 2 doubles as Claire Smock and Emily Blom fought off massive rallies by the Saints duo of Izzy Tobin and Ruby Smith. After dropping the first set, Pella’s pairing needed to rally from down late in the second set to force a seven-point tiebreaker, which then produced a winner-take-all final third set super tiebreaker, with the team’s playing to the first 10 points scored. The Dutch dominated from there, opening up 6-0 and finishing off a remarkable tournament.

Pella had wins from Smock, Lily Van Dusseldorp, and Bryn Higginbotham in singles against Xavier, and Higginbotham combined with Mallory Westerkamp to tie the overall match at 4-4 in No. 3 doubles.

Hear from the victorious Pella girls tennis champions on Today’s Lely Radio Sports Page and during pregame of the soccer matchup vs. North Polk.