A steady stream of highly successful seasons can sometimes spoil fans of an athletic program, as they grow accustomed to winning and expect championship-caliber teams year-in and year-out, without always taking into consideration where that success comes from. One key to success in team sports is a positive attitude, and while other areas have been a little scarce, optimism is an attribute that the Pella volleyball team has had an abundance of this season.

Though the wins have been hard to come by, and they’ve yet to play a match in their “home” gym, the Lady Dutch have continued to persevere and not give up on the season or themselves. Pella head coach Bob Fessler says the positive attitude from this year’s squad has still made the season fun, even without piling up the wins.

“As a group we’ve talked about this quite a bit. We basically said this year could be a lot of complaining, a lot of absolute no fun, a lot of things – but it hasn’t been,” said Fessler.

“We’ve got terrific young ladies; just quality, character-building-type ladies, and so it does make it fun to go to practice. It’s not a pain. It is fun. Our girls deserve a little better than what they’ve gotten, but at the same time, we’ve also deserved where we’ve been. We’ve not taken care of business like we need to.”

The Pella volleyball team may be on the right track, though, after defeating Grinnell on Tuesday night for their first Little Hawkeye Conference win of the season.

The Lady Dutch carry a 5-17 overall record into the Pella Invite this Saturday, which they’ll host at Pella Christian High School to accommodate the additional teams competing while the new gym floor at Pella’s East Gym is being completed.