Second-ranked Pella toppled Pella Christian last night in three sets in their annual Tulip City volleyball match, 25-19, 25-21, 25-8.
The first two sets were closely contested in front of an energetic crowd at Pella High School. Lady Dutch coach Catie Brand thought that her team’s ability to follow its game plan was critical.
“We had planned for certain (Pella Christian) hitters to make a difference. We had planned for aggressive serving. And we saw all of that in the first set. So in that first timeout, I just kind of said ‘they’re showing us exactly what they thought they were going to show us’, and we made adjustments on our side that really kind of kept the momentum on our side of the net for most of the match.”
Pella Christian coach John Evenhouse says that while they were able to stay within shouting distance, his team’s Achilles heel – mistakes – popped up a little too often.
“We’d get a little bit close, then we’d make an error or two. So they were able to maintain a three, four, five point lead. We played pretty well in the first two sets, but in the last one we made too many mistakes and got down on ourselves and they just pounded us.”
Evenhouse added that the fact they hung with the 2nd ranked team in class 4-A for the first two sets is an encouraging sign for his club.
Statistically, Emily Holterhaus had 17 kills for Pella and Katie Vander Molen had 8. Kiki Pingel had 26 assists, Jenna Murphy had 8 digs, and Holterhaus and Pingel combined for 3 double blocks.
Pella Christian’s Mady Zula had 5 kills and 3 service aces, Bekah Horstman had 7 kills and 8 digs, and Hannah Vos served up 23 assists.
Pella improves to 7-2 on the season and 2-0 in Little Hawkeye Conference play, while the Eagles slip to 3-4 and 1-1.
Both teams return to tournament action Saturday. Pella Christian is at Iowa City West. The Lady Dutch are at Southeast Polk.
You can hear full interviews with both Brand and Evenhouse this Saturday as we catch up with all of our area volleyball coaches as part of the Knoxville HyVee Radio Coaches Corner.