Coach Cindy Nikkel was extremely pleased for the second straight tournament with how her Pella Christian volleyball team played this past Saturday. The Eagles went 4 – 1 in their home tournament. In pool play, Pella Christian beat Gilbert in three sets, 21 – 14, 17 – 21 and 15 – 11, then swept Knoxville 21 – 11 and 21 – 14. The Class 1A ranked Grandview Park Baptist squad was the only loss the Eagles suffered; as Pella Christian finished with a pair of three-set wins in the championship pool over West Des Moines Valley and Bondurant-Farrar. Abby Pleima had 25 digs on the day, and Hannah Beltman recorded 20 kills for the Eagles, who have won 10 of their last 11 matches to improve to 12 – 12 on the season. Knoxville meanwhile went two-and-two and never got to its fifth and final match with Des Moines Christian due to the tournament running behind and one of the officials had to leave to officiate at a match at Drake. A frustrated Panthers Coach Liz Sanders said they would have liked to play that final match but it would have caused a longer rest time in between matches. Pella Christian is at home for a big conference showdown with Pella High next on Tuesday while Knoxville hosts Norwalk.

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