The Pella and Pella Christian volleyball teams will renew the Tulip City Showdown tonight with a Little Hawkeye Conference match on Eagle Lane.

The host Eagles enter tonight’s matchup with a 3-6 overall record on the season and an 0-2 mark in the league. Pella Christian most recently snapped a five match losing skid, with a dominant 3-0 road sweep of Woodward-Granger on Thursday. While tonight is a big rivalry game, Eagles head coach Erica Boer wants her squad to treat this like any other game.

“When we play with the purpose, passion, and poise that we’ve talked about this season in our program, I hope this game feels no different than any other game we’ve played. If we’re coming out with the same purpose which is to glorify and honor God, and the same passion which is 100% all the time, and the same poise and confidence that we’ve played with in every match, I don’t think this match will feel any different.”

The Dutch are off to an 8-5 overall start to the 2023 season, and are 0-1 in conference play. After dropping a three-set match to Dallas Center-Grimes in their league opener last Tuesday, Pella responded by going 3-2 at the Southeast Polk Metro Volleyball Classic on Saturday. Looking to pickup the rivalry win, Dutch head coach Sam Sheldon says that she wants to see continued improvement from her team.

“We have some different goals surrounding specific stat marks and stat points that definitely will show us our growth. I’m going to kind of keep those hidden and reserved a little bit just because I don’t want to give away too much there, but we have very specific stat goals that we’re trying to meet within different sets and different matches.”

The Tulip City Showdown on Eagle Lane tonight is scheduled to begin at 7:15 p.m.