Pella Christian Boys Tennis Wins the Knoxville Invitational
Competing in their first regular season weekend tournament since the program restarted in Spring 2021, the Pella Christian boys tennis team took first place at the Knoxville Invitational Saturday.
The Eagles dominated in the doubles bracket of the tourney, with both duos winning three matches on the day. Earning a first round bye as the two-seed, Aaron Meinders and Kirby Van Wyngarden opened up their day with an 8-5 victory over North Polk’s second doubles team, before earning an 8-1 victory over one of the Saydel doubles teams to reach the championship. On the top side of the bracket, Rob Scheur and Rhett Terpstra started their day with a pair of 8-1 wins over duos from Albia and Oskaloosa, before defeating the other Saydel doubles team 8-2 to set up an all Pella Christian championship. In the title match, Meinders and Van Wyngarden edged out Schreur and Terpstra 8-4 to claim the top spot in the doubles bracket.
In the singles bracket, Jonathan Van Gorp began his day with a 8-2 win over Cooper Rupprecht of Oskaloosa. Van Gorp followed that up with an 8-5 win against Jonathan Pyatak of Chariton, but fell in his next two matches to claim fourth place in singles play. Joining Van Gorp in the singles bracket for the Eagles was Liam Zula, who fell 8-4 in his first round match.
The Pella Christian boys tennis team will look to build on Saturday’s momentum on Tuesday afternoon, when they travel to Indianola for a 4:15 pm match.
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Pella Christian Boys Soccer Takes 3rd at the West Central Valley Tournament
Competing for the fourth and fifth times this week, the Pella Christian boys soccer team took 3rd place at the West Central Valley Tournament on Saturday. The Eagles opened the tournament with a 4-1 loss against the hosts, and were leading 3-0 earlier in the second half of the third place game before Underwood forfeit the match.
In the first game of the day, Pella Christian and West Central Valley played a scoreless first half of soccer before the Wildcats got the scoring started in the game’s 50th minute. The hosts added two more goals in the 58th and 64th minutes to extend their advantage to 3-0. The Eagles tallied their only goal of the game in the 72nd minute, when Camden Parker weaved his way through the defense and beat the goalie to cut the deficit to 3-1. West Central Valley pushed the final margin back to three with a final goal in the 76th minute, sending Pella Christian to the third place match.
Against Underwood, the Eagles jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the game’s 11th minute, when Ben Van Wyngarden found Ethan Van Arendonk in the box and Van Arendonk beat the goalkeeper. Pella Christian added on three minutes later, as a long pass from Parker found Van Arendonk down field and he dished the ball across the net to Theo Hugen for his first goal of the day. The final goal came in the 37th minute, when Hugen found Parker at the top of the box to put the Eagles up 3-0 at halftime. Less than a minute into the second half, Underwood was called for a yellow card and following a conversation between the center referee and their coach, Underwood’s coach opted to forfeit the match and give Pella Christian the 3-0 victory.
The Eagles will have another quick turnaround, traveling to State Center on Monday evening to take on Central Iowa United at 5:30 pm.
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Pella Christian Boys Golf Finish 4th at the Dutch Masters
The Pella Christian boys golf team was unable to make up ground on the field Saturday, as they placed 4th at the Dutch Masters held at Bos Landen Golf Club.
After shooting a 317 on Friday, the Eagles endured some struggles on their home course, shooting a 333 on Saturday to finish the 18-team, two-day event with a 650. Senior Eliot Menninga led the Eagles with a +7 over par 79 for the day. After matching each other’s scores on the first day of the event, seniors Landon Fransman and Cooper Spronk did so again on Saturday, with each shooting an 84. Senior Connor VanZee rounded out the Eagles scoring with an 86, while Deacon Branderhorst and Carter Brand rounded out the varsity lineup with an 89 and a 94 respectively.
The Eagles look to bounce back on Tuesday, hosting the second Little Hawkeye Conference regular season meet at Bos Landen Golf Club.
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Pella Christian Spring Sporting Events on Monday:
Girls Tennis vs Knoxville – 4:15 pm