The Top 10 Countdown of Pella High School sports moments from 2023-24 takes us to Waterloo with a wild finish to a first for the green and white tennis program.

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 on May 29th as they claimed the Class 1A state tennis championship.

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 teams playing to the first 10 points scored. The Dutch dominated from there, opening up a 6-0 lead 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.

Post-championship interview with the girls team:

Post-championship interview with Coach David Bouska: